MIAMI — After playing for the first time in two weeks following his seven-game suspension from the Miami Heat, forward Jimmy Butler said Friday night that he and the franchise “are where we are” when it comes to their relationship less than three weeks before the Feb. 6 trade deadline.
“I guess it’s basketball at this point,” Butler said after scoring 18 points in 33 minutes in a 133-113 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Kasaya Center. “I know what I’m expected to do while I’m here and try to do that to the best of my ability, but we are where we are.”
The two sides remain basically in the same situation they were before Butler was suspended a couple of weeks ago: with the star forward looking for a trade away from the shores of Biscayne Bay, and the Heat still unable to find an acceptable deal.
So with Butler’s suspension having ended, he was back in uniform and in the starting lineup Friday night, having arrived at the arena for the team’s late afternoon walkthrough. He went 7-for-15 from the field and had three rebounds, two assists and a turnover.
“[Got to] get him back acclimated,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said of Butler’s return. “I mean, we know what Jimmy’s capable of, so it’s no shock that he found his rhythm at some point, and going forward, I feel like he’s going to continue to find his rhythm and we’ll keep trying to win games.”
In Friday’s game, Butler looked far from the force that has driven the Heat to the conference finals three times and the NBA Finals twice across the past five-plus seasons. His average touch length was 2.75 seconds, according to Second Spectrum — his lowest in any game as a member of the Heat — and he averaged 1.6 dribbles per touch, which was his second-lowest total of the season.
When asked about Butler’s effort level after the game, however, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra turned the question around to Miami’s poor defense against the Nuggets and reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, who had 24 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
“I don’t know,” Spoelstra said when asked if Butler needs to be more involved offensively. “We haven’t seen him obviously in a couple of weeks. He hasn’t played a lot of games, so that is likely part of this.
“I know what storylines you’re looking for. I’m not feeding into any of that tonight. We got our asses kicked. I know what you want to talk about. I know what I saw out there. From a defensive standpoint, it was not good enough, and that’s three straight games now. We found our identity of how we can win games and then [the last] three games, we haven’t been able to put that together, commit to that side of the floor, and we’ve paid the price.”
Spoelstra’s sentiment was similar to what he expressed during Friday’s pregame media session, when he said the Heat were going to treat the game as close to business as usual as possible.
“We work in a league of complexity,” Spoelstra said before the game. “We’re in an unusual place right now, but really all it is is complex, and we fully plan on operating within this complexity. It’s my job to prepare this team and get it ready to play at a high level, and that’s what I’m doing. That’s what the plan is.
“My methods for doing it are really none of your business. You’re all looking for drama, I’m looking for getting this team ready to play at a high level. And as far as silly questions like ‘what is the temperature of the room?’ or ‘how is everybody feeling?” that just sounds so dramatic. We’re professionals, we’re fine, we’re ready for tonight’s game, and that’s the only thing that matters. We’re looking forward to getting back on the wood. We’ve been on the road for a while, and we’re complete, so we’re looking forward to getting this thing tipped off.”
But until Butler is traded, or the trade deadline passes, the questions will continue. When Butler was asked whether the situation could be fixed, or whether he felt the same way he did after the Pacers game on Jan. 2 – when he said he wanted to find his “joy” again, and that he didn’t think it could happen in Miami – he issued a “no comment” both times.
When Butler was asked what would happen if he was still on the team on Feb. 7, he smiled and responded.
“We’re playing a lot of ‘what-ifs,’ ain’t we?” Butler said.
Then he added: “I’m going to hoop.”
Sources have maintained that the Heat would like to find a deal to accommodate Butler’s wishes. Doing so, however, will require the Heat to land a trade that brings back some combination of players that can help the Heat win now, draft capital, movable short-term salary and young talent.
To this point, however, that deal hasn’t materialized, and it is far from certain one will much before the deadline.
Butler did make it clear after Friday’s game that he has no issues with his teammates.
“It felt good to get out there and compete and actually run around with these guys,” Butler said. “As much as everybody may think, I don’t got a problem with these guys. These guys are cool. They’re my friends. … My beef is not with them and never will be. Never has been. But it did feel good to get out there and play some basketball.”