Heat’s Jimmy Butler could return Wednesday vs. Lakers. Also, Kel’el Ware sent to G League

Not much has gone well for the Miami Heat in recent days, but there was some good news on the Heat’s injury report Tuesday.

After Jimmy Butler missed Monday night’s 108-89 blowout loss to the Boston Celtics at TD Garden because of right knee soreness, he was upgraded to questionable for Wednesday’s matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun and NBA TV).

Heat’s Bam Adebayo stuck in ‘one of those stretches that sometimes you can’t explain’

Butler, 35, hurt his knee late in Sunday’s loss to the Raptors in Toronto before sitting out Monday’s defeat. He has missed five of the Heat’s first 19 games this season after being sidelined for four games last month because of a sprained right ankle.

The Heat (9-10) has posted a 2-3 record in games without Butler this season.

Butler, who can become a free agent this upcoming summer with a $52.4 million player option in his contract for next season, has averaged 18.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 53.8 percent from the field and 7 of 21 (33.3 percent) from three-point range through his first 14 appearances (all starts) this season.

The Heat also listed Kevin Love (back spasms) and Josh Richardson (illness) as questionable for Wednesday’s contest. Love has missed two of the last four games with back spasms and Richardson has been held out of the last two games because of his illness.

The Heat ruled out Josh Christopher (G League), Nikola Jovic (sprained left ankle) and Kel’el Ware (G League) for Wednesday’s matchup against the Lakers.

Ware, who has logged just 69 minutes through the Heat’s first 19 games this season after being selected in the first round of this year’s draft, is joining the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the G League for some game action. This marks the first time that the Heat has sent the rookie center to the G League.

The Skyforce’s next game is Thursday against the Windy City Bulls. Ware had been battling right foot tendinitis before being sent to the Heat’s G League affiliate.

It appears that the Lakers will have their leading duo of Anthony Davis and LeBron James available against the Heat. The Lakers ruled out Jaxson Hayes (right ankle sprain), Bronny James Jr. (left heel contusion), Jarred Vanderbilt (right foot surgery recovery) and Christian Wood (left knee surgery recovery) for Wednesday’s game in Miami.

Jalen Hood-Schifino (left groin soreness) and Austin Reaves (left pelvic contusion) are listed as questionable for the Lakers. Davis (left plantar fasciitis) is probable to play.

THIS AND THAT

▪ The metrics say the Heat’s middling record is indicative of its play. Miami entered Tuesday with the NBA’s 20th-ranked offensive rating, 10th-ranked defensive rating and 15th-ranked net rating among the league’s 30 teams.

▪ Heat coach Erik Spoelstra complimented the Celtics’ ball movement following Monday’s loss in Boston.

“Yeah, they shoot a ton of threes, they get matchups and hunt those matchups until they get to what they want,” Spoelstra said of the Celtics. “But they also move the ball much better than they have. So you have to have a lot of things working.”

Not only did the defending NBA champion Celtics enter Tuesday with the NBA’s second-best record at 17-4, but they also hold the NBA’s third-best offensive rating this season.

▪ After shooting just 19 of 46 (41.3 percent) from inside the paint in Monday’s loss to the Celtics, the Heat is shooting an inefficient 51.2 percent from inside the paint this season.

Last season, the Heat made 56.2 percent of its paint shots. During the 2021-22 season when the Heat entered the playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, it shot 57.4 percent from inside the paint.

“We missed a lot of shots we normally make and that’s been the result a lot this season,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said following Monday’s defeat in Boston.

▪ The Heat’s opponent on Wednesday, the Lakers, are also struggling at the moment. After a 10-4 start to the season, the Lakers (12-9) have dropped five of their last seven games.

The Lakers are coming off a 109-80 blowout road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday.

“Sometimes we look like a team that can compete with anyone and sometimes we look like a team that looks terrible and is not going to do anything this season,” Davis said after that defeat.

Wednesday also marks Gabe Vincent’s first game back at Kaseya Center after leaving the Heat to sign with the Lakers in free agency during the 2023 offseason. Vincent missed most of last season because of a knee injury.