Star forward Jimmy Butler remains in Miami and won’t rejoin the Heat until after they return from their current road trip, the team announced today (via Twitter).
That means Butler, who is being listed as out due to return-to-competition reconditioning following an illness, will miss games in Atlanta on Saturday and in Houston on Sunday before rejoining the Heat ahead of Wednesday’s game vs. the Pelicans in Miami. This weekend’s contests will be the fourth and fifth in a row that Butler has missed.
According to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, the original expectation had been that Butler would travel to Orlando to meet up with the club following Thursday’s game vs. the Magic and would be on the team flight to Atlanta on Friday.
The timing of Butler’s absence is notable, given that ESPN reported on Wednesday he prefers to be traded out of Miami and team president Pat Riley announced on Thursday that the 35-year-old isn’t going anywhere. While there’s no doubt Butler was legitimately sick, it’ll raise some eyebrows that he’ll end up missing three games due to “return-to-competition conditioning” after missing just two due to that illness.
Still, there has been no confirmation from the team or from reporters that Butler’s extended recovery period is connected to those recent trade rumors or Riley’s statement.
We’ll see what the six-time All-Star has to say about the situation during his first media availability after the Heat return home early next week. Until then, it remains possible that things could escalate instead of quieting down, though multiple reports indicated earlier this week that Butler is fine with the idea of finishing out the season in Miami and intends to remain professional.
As Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald tweets, the Heat announced on Thursday that they don’t intend to move Butler for a few reasons: They’re comfortable with their options with Butler next summer, even if he opts out of his contract; they want to win as many games as possible this season and believe Butler helps them do that; and there had been no indication that they were going to receive a trade offer they loved.