Despite the fact that Heat star Jimmy Butler made it clear he reportedly no longer wants to play for the franchise, he may suit up for Miami on Friday, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. Butler is eligible to return against Denver from his team-issued suspension and was not listed on Thursday’s injury report.
The six-time All-Star was expected to meet with Arison and CEO Nick Arison on Thursday afternoon to discuss a path forward.
As has been reported, there has been little progress on a potential trade. The Heat would prefer to get a trade done sooner rather than later but will only accept a deal that will help the team both now and moving forward.
We have more from the Heat:
- The Heat went 3-4 during Butler’s suspension, including three consecutive wins against the Warriors, Jazz and Trail Blazers. The most promising aspect of the trip, The Athletic’s James Jackson writes, is the fact that all of Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware and Nikola Jovic showed flashes. Ware’s continuing to play a larger role as the season goes on. Teammate Tyler Herro expressed optimism about what he saw from those players during the stretch. “Ups and downs with a young player are normal,” Herro said. “I went through it myself. I think that’s the hardest thing: just finding consistency night in and night out. That’s a challenge for any young player. I think getting the reps every night is ultimately what young guys need, to be able to continue to get better and go through ups and downs, play through mistakes. But they’re all playing very well. You can see how good they can be, and I’m really excited for them.“
- Ware and Jovic have looked particularly good coming off the bench for Miami, often assisting on each other’s makes, Chiang observes in a separate piece. On the other hand, Bam Adebayo and Terry Rozier continued to be off the mark offensively, with Adebayo shooting a career-low from the field and Rozier shooting his lowest since the 2018/19 season.
- Despite being active earlier this month and looking like he was on track to return soon, Josh Richardson went home from the team’s west coast road trip early for an MRI on his heel. Richardson was ruled out due to his heel, according to the team (Twitter link). It’s unknown at this time when Richardson will be able to return or what the results of the MRI were.