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As it has been reported that Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler has been away from the team in the process of returning to action, the team has announced further plans with the star. After Butler missed his third straight game as the Heat beat the Orlando Magic Thursday night, he will miss the next two games of the road trip and rejoin the team after it's completed as said via their official X, formerly Twitter.
“Jimmy Butler (return to competition reconditioning) and Josh Richardson (heel) have both been ruled out of tomorrow’s game vs the Hawks,” the post read. “Butler will remain in Miami and rejoin the team after the road trip.”
This includes the back-to-back starting Saturday afternoon against the Atlanta Hawks and Sunday facing the Houston Rockets.
Butler left in Miami's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in what appeared to be an ankle injury at first because of a collision and the star limping off the court. However, the team would announce that he wouldn't return to the game as Butler was “feeling ill.” He would miss the next two games with a “stomach illness” and then the aforementioned win over the Magic due to “return to competition reconditioning” which he stayed in Miami for rather than traveling with the team.
There is no doubt that the 35-year-old has been the face of trade speculation which amped up when ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Butler prefers a deal out of Miami before the Feb. 6 deadline.
Heat's Jimmy Butler has been surrounded by trade speculation
With all the rumors and speculation, Heat president Pat Riley felt it was right to release a statement with a straight-to-the-point message saying they are not trading Butler.
“We usually don't comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches. Therefore, we will make it clear – We are not trading Jimmy Butler,” Riley said via the statement that was posted to the team's official X, formerly Twitter, account.
Other reports are saying that the relationship between the Heat and Butler is fractured, but in terms of what has been made public, head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke for the Heat and said “We want Jimmy” according to Anthony Chaing of The Miami Herald.
“That’s just the deal,” Spoelstra said Thursday morning at shootaround before Miami takes on the Orlando Magic. “You have to compartmentalize in this business. We want Jimmy here. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. And it’s just unfortunate that you have to control or deal with a lot of the noise on the outside. In terms of this morning, this was a pretty focused group coming off of the last game that we came [to Orlando].”
“That’s all I’m going to talk about it,” Spoelstra continued. “The more any of us talk about it, the more fuel it gets. It’s just really unfortunate that it just continues to build momentum outside of our building.”
The Heat will not have Butler for the next two games as also Nikola Jovic is questionable with an ankle injury as Josh Richardson will miss another game with a heel issue. They are 15-13 as they face the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday afternoon.
