Heat suspends Jimmy Butler for ‘conduct detrimental to the team’ and will listen to trade offers

In the wake of Jimmy Butler’s eye-opening press conference following the Miami Heat’s home loss to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night, the Heat is suspending Butler for seven games.

The Heat announced the suspension Friday night through a press release that said: “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.”

Butler’s suspension begins with Saturday’s home game against the Utah Jazz (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun) and runs through the Heat’s upcoming six-game West Coast trip. He’ll be eligible to come back when the Heat returns to Miami to host the Denver Nuggets on Jan. 17, but it appears unlikely that Butler will ever play another game in a Heat uniform even if he’s still on the roster at that point.

Poll: Which side is to blame for this messy situation — Jimmy Butler or the Heat?

The seven-game suspension will cost Butler a total of about $2.4 million in salary. The National Basketball Players Association made clear soon after the suspension was announced on Friday night that it intends to file a grievance to dispute the suspension, with the fine money held in escrow until a resolution is reached. This process could take up to a year, but could result in Butler getting some of the lost salary back.

The NBPA said in a statement: “The 7-game suspension imposed tonight by the Miami Heat on Jimmy Butler is excessive and inappropriate, and we intend to file a grievance challenging the discipline.”

The suspension comes less than 24 hours after Butler made clear that he’s no longer happy with being a member of the Heat.

“I want to see me get my joy back from playing basketball,” Butler said late Thursday night after the Heat’s loss to the Pacers at Kaseya Center. “And wherever that may be, we’ll find out here pretty soon, I want to get my joy back. I’m happy here — off the court. But I want to be back to someone dominant. I want to hoop and I want to help this team win. Right now, I’m not doing that.”

Does Butler believe he can get his joy back while remaining on the Heat’s roster?

“Probably not,” said Butler, who is on a $48.8 million salary for this season.

While a public trade demand has not been made, it has become clear that Butler would agree to a trade to any of the 29 other NBA teams, a league source told the Miami Herald.

Butler’s comments Thursday came after back-to-back nine-point performances in his first two games back from a five-game absence stemming from an illness. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra did not play Butler in the fourth quarter of either of those two contests.

Butler totaled just nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field, 1-of-2 shooting on threes and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds, four assists and two steals in 27 minutes during Thursday’s loss to the Pacers. That came after Butler recorded nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field, four rebounds and two assists in Wednesday’s home win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

“It felt great,” Butler said when asked about his second straight nine-point performance Thursday. “I felt like I was focused. I felt like I did my job, or at least what my job is now.”

Butler, who has spent much of the last two games standing in the corner on the offensive end, also made clear Thursday that he’s not comfortable with his role in the Heat’s offense this season. Butler’s usage rate of 20.3 percent this season is his lowest usage rate since his third NBA season in 2013-14.

Butler is averaging 17.6 points on 10.5 field-goal attempts, 5.5 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 55.2 percent from the field this season. That’s also the fewest points and field-goal attempts he has averaged since the 2013-14 season.

“That’s not what I’m used to being,” Butler said. “I haven’t been that since my first, second, third year in the league, where I just went out there and played defense. I competed, I guarded, I tried not to let my man score. But that’s what I’m doing now.”

When asked how the Heat can get Butler more involved on offense, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he played Butler in more of a point guard role during the second half of Thursday’s defeat to get the ball in his hands.

“Whatever we got to do,” Spoelstra said. “If we got to get him activated, put the ball in his hands and play point. He’s done it before. We know how to get him going, he knows how to get going. These are not two strangers. Aberrational, activate on Saturday.”

Does Butler believe playing more minutes as the Heat’s point guard will help fix the issue? “That ain’t gonna fix it,” Butler said.

Hours before Butler’s fiery postgame press conference on Thursday, there was a conversation between Heat officials and Butler’s representation, according to league sources.

Butler was bothered after the discussion because Butler and his agent perceived that Heat officials were implying that Butler didn’t play his hardest in the Heat’s home win over the Pelicans on Wednesday. Butler scored nine points on five shots in that contest.

But the Heat contends that it was a more macro-level discussion regarding the team’s concern over Butler’s behavior in recent weeks since the trade noise has grown louder.

How did the Heat-Butler relationship get to this point?

According to multiple sources, the 35-year-old Butler has been disappointed with the Heat primarily because Miami declined to give him a two-year, $113 million contract extension this past summer, a deal that would have run through the 2026-27 season. Butler was open to signing such a deal early in the negotiating window, but his mindset changed when the extension wasn’t immediately offered by the Heat.

After the Heat did not quickly agree to an extension this past offseason, Butler decided to play out this season and exercise his option to become a free agent this upcoming summer. That remains his intention, sources said. Beyond the contract, other issues also have led to Butler’s increasing ambivalence toward remaining with Miami.

A source said that Butler was caught off guard when Heat president Pat Riley, during a May news conference, scolded him for saying that “Boston would be at home” and “New York damn sure would be [expletive] at home” if Butler had been healthy for Miami’s five-game first-round playoff playoff loss against the Celtics, which he missed because of a knee injury.

“For him to say that, I thought, ‘Is that Jimmy trolling, or is that Jimmy serious?’” Riley said in May during his end-of-season press conference. “If you’re not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut.”

According to a source, Butler was also disappointed that the Heat did not publicly deny a Dec. 10 ESPN report that Miami was open to trading him.

Riley issued a strong statement last week to push back against all the trade noise.

“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,” Riley said in the statement. “Therefore, we will make it clear — we are not trading Jimmy Butler.”

Despite what appears to be the inevitable messy ending to their relationship, Butler has already established himself as one of the greatest players in Heat history.

Butler, who is in the middle of his sixth season with the franchise, helped lead the Heat to three Eastern Conference finals appearances and two NBA Finals appearances since joining the team during the 2019 offseason. He has been selected for two NBA All-Star Games and made an All-NBA team three times during his first five seasons with the Heat.

INJURY REPORT

Along with missing Butler, the Heat ruled out Josh Richardson (right heel inflammation), Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League) for Saturday’s game against the Jazz.