The Miami Heat have suspended Jimmy Butler for seven games for “multiple acts detrimental to the team” and announced that they’ll “listen to offers” for the All-Star forward, eight days after team president Pat Riley publicly stated that the team has “no will make offers”. Trade” Butler.
“Through his actions and statements, he has demonstrated that he no longer wants to be a part of this team,” the Heat wrote in a team statement Friday. “Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they would like a trade, so we will listen to the offers.”
The National Basketball Players Association plans to appeal the penalty.
“The seven-game suspension imposed on Jimmy Butler by the Miami Heat tonight is excessive and inappropriate, and we intend to file a discipline grievance,” the union said in a statement.
The Heat's decision to suspend Butler marks the latest turning point in an apparently eroding relationship. After Miami's 128-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 2, days after he returned to the Heat after a five-game absence, Butler said he had lost his joy in playing basketball and was ready to give it up “wherever that could be.” “will” be restored. Asked if that joy could be recreated in Miami, Butler replied: “Probably not.”
Shortly thereafter, a league source confirmed an ESPN report that Butler had informed the Heat of his desire to be traded to another NBA team by the league's trade deadline on February 6.
Miami HEAT statement on Jimmy Butler:
We have suspended Jimmy Butler for seven games because he has committed behavior detrimental to the team on several occasions over the course of the season and particularly in the previous few weeks.
– Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 4, 2025
In the 2 games before Butler's suspension, he totaled 11 shot attempts and averaged nine points in only over 25 minutes per game. He didn't play a single minute within the fourth quarter of either game. The 35-year-old forward is on pace to complete behind teammates Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo in usage rate for the second straight season, marking one other shift in his place in Miami's hierarchy because the Heat give the latter two more offense have entrusted responsibility.
“That may be my role here, but that's not what I'm used to,” Butler said Thursday of his reduced usage. “I haven't been like that since, I don't know, my first, second, third year in the league where I just went out and played defense. But I'm competitive – I guarded and tried not to let my man score. That’s what I do now.”
The two teams were unable to barter a contract extension after last season, leading the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals MVP to determine to play the 2024-25 season and express a desire to get out of the last one yr of his current contract, which might pay him $52.4 million. Butler has until the summer to elect that option, which might allow him to change into an unrestricted free agent and sign with the Heat or a brand new team.
Butler appeared in 22 of the Heat's 32 games this season, meaning he has missed not less than 10 games in each of his five-plus seasons with the Heat. When Butler has played, Miami has a 12-10 record, in comparison with a 5-3 record when he sat out. According to NBA.com, the team has five-time All-NBA selections on the court this season and has a net rating of plus-4.3. When he’s either on the bench or not available to play in any respect, Miami is outscored by 0.4 points per 100 possessions.
Availability has been at the guts of tensions between Butler and Miami's front office.
There were already tensions between the six-time All-Star and Miami last season. Last May, Riley lamented Butler's claim that he could have led the Heat past the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks within the playoffs last yr if he had been healthy.
“If you're not playing on the field, you should keep your mouth shut,” Riley said at his end-of-season press conference.
Since then, Butler has change into increasingly vocal about his dissatisfaction together with his contract status and role. When reports surfaced in December that he would favor to be traded to certainly one of the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks or Phoenix Suns, Butler began changing his hair color to match that of his potential suitors – blonde for the Warriors, red for the Rockets, blue for Mavericks and orange for Suns. When Butler was asked about his hair decisions in a rare post-practice media session on Tuesday, he attributed the thought to a loved one.
“My daughter chose purple, so I chose purple,” Butler said of Tuesday’s alternative. “She will also choose the color tonight. I think I know what it’s going to be, but she’s going to pick it.”
Butler's scoring average this season (17.6) is on pace to be his lowest since 2013-14 with the Chicago Bulls (13.1), although his 55.2 percent shooting percentage is his most effective in 14 seasons as a professional were. His 10.5 shot attempts per game ranks fourth amongst Heat players, behind Herro (17.5), Adebayo (13.7) and Terry Rozier (10.9).
Despite his statistical decline, Butler has shown signs of still being able to putting up big numbers. On December 16 against the Detroit Pistons, he became the primary player in NBA history to record a 30-point triple-double without committing a foul or turnover, although Miami lost 125–124 in extra time. (The league began tracking individual turnovers within the 1977-78 season.)
Close losses have been a sore point for Butler and the Heat. Miami has six losses by a margin of three points or fewer this season, tied with the Sacramento Kings (15-19) and Toronto Raptors (8-26) for probably the most such losses within the NBA. In critical situations – defined because the rating being inside five points in the ultimate five minutes of a game – the Heat are only 7-11; They have more clutch losses than lottery-bound teams just like the Portland Trail Blazers (11-22 overall), Utah Jazz (7-25) and Washington Wizards (6-25).
“It’s not a difficult transition for me. “I’m going to fight to win whether I score nine points or 29 points,” Butler said Thursday. “I’m going to compete – that’s one thing I’m going to say. So people won't say I'm out there not playing hard. It might seem that way because my usage has gone down and I don't shoot the ball a lot, but we're not going to sit here and say I'm not playing hard.”
With Miami now open to entertaining offers for Butler, it remains to be seen what it will take to end what has become a morbid chapter in franchise history after one of its best stretches. Miami posted the NBA's seventh-best winning percentage in Butler's first five seasons in South Florida.
Miami will be without Butler on Saturday as it hosts Utah before embarking on a six-game road trip. Until then, it's possible that Butler will finally get his wish.
“I want to get my joy back in playing basketball, and wherever that may be, we'll find out here soon,” Butler said Thursday. “I’m happy here off the pitch, but I want to be somewhat dominant again.”
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