MIAMI — Perhaps little says as much about the convoluted current relationship between Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat as this: The team has reached the end game of its seven-game unpaid suspension of the former All-Star forward with the situation nonetheless ongoing.
With Wednesday night’s 117-108 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena, Butler, according to the team’s sanction, now stands eligible to return for Friday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets at Kaseya Center.
Still to be determined is in what role and in what mental state, with the suspension beginning on Jan. 3 in light of two games the Heat contended Butler did not provide requisite effort amid the forward’s disappointment of the team’s playing style and the franchise’s lack of earlier addressing his eligibility for an extension.
Against that backdrop, the Heat went 3-4 in Butler’s absence, including 3-3 on the just-completed western trip.
Also against that backdrop stands the reality of what appears to be an irreparably damaged relationship after a 5 1/2-season run that has included two visits to the NBA Finals and three to the Eastern Conference finals.
Having met previously with Heat President Pat Riley in a conversation that appeared to do little toward quelling the simmering tensions, NBA sources said Butler also had a Thursday meeting scheduled with Heat owner Micky Arison.
Still, the perception is one of a breaking point, from no less than franchise icon Dwyane Wade, who had his own contractual contretemps with Riley, Arison and the Heat over his Hall of Fame Heat career.
“To give Jimmy credit, Jimmy came in when they were losing the face of their franchise and became the face of the franchise. That’s hard to do. He became the people that those guys want to buy his jersey, wear his jersey. The Heat was a soft landing spot for Jimmy and Jimmy was exactly the star that the Heat needed for six years — Finals, big moments that they’ve had together,” Wade said on an episode of his The Why with Dwyane Wade podcast that dropped this week.
“It’s ending tragically, this is tragic. This is a tragic way to end a relationship. So as a former player, it’s ugly on our franchise, it’s a stain on our franchise that we continue to have the way that the relationships break up. But also, too, on the other side, you don’t run that organization as a player. So you get to that space sometimes where you want to do things your way. It’s Pat Riley’s way.”
While Butler has not publicly demanded a trade, it has been made clear that he has no intention of continuing the relationship beyond this season, with the hope of an escape by the Feb. 6 NBA trading deadline, if not sooner.
Failing a move by that deadline, Butler has the option of opting out of the final season on his contract, or to pick up that option year and then again push for a trade in the offseason..
While the suspension ended with Wednesday night’s loss to the Lakers that dropped the Heat to 20-19, the Heat have not retracted their statement that they would work toward a trade of Butler.
The Heat’s statement issued on Jan. 3 read:
“We have suspended Jimmy Butler for seven games for multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team over the course of the season and particularly the last several weeks. Through his actions and statements, he has shown he no longer wants to be part of this team.
“Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they wish to be traded, therefore, we will listen to offers.”
The Heat have not publicly addressed the matter since, with the team’s game-by-game injury report simply listing Butler as suspended, a status due to change for Friday’s game.
To Wade, it is a case of egos getting in the way, having sorted out his own kerfuffle with the team in a return engagement after leaving in 2016 in a contract dispute. The Heat since have both retired Wade’s No. 3 and erected a statue in his honor on the steps of the Kaseya Center.
“I came back because I realized that when I left. I was like, ‘Listen, this is what it is,’ ” Wade said. “This is what all of us when we get together, we all appreciate is the way that the organization is run. So the organization will not be run in a way that is going to change to every star that comes into the organization. LeBron James only stayed four years. It wasn’t run the way LeBron James needed it to be run, it wasn’t run the way Dwyane Wade [needed it to be run]. It’s run the way Pat Riley is going to run it and the way the Arisons run it.”