Jimmy Butler no longer listed as suspended, as potential Heat return looms Friday vs. Nuggets

Jimmy Butler has made it clear over the last few weeks that he no longer wants to play for the Miami Heat. But on Friday, Butler could be asked to play for the Heat.

With Wednesday night’s 117-108 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers marking the end of the Heat’s six-game West Coast trip and the end of Butler’s team-issued seven-game suspension, he’s eligible to return when the Heat opens a three-game homestand on Friday against the Denver Nuggets (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun).

Butler is no longer listed on the Heat’s injury report following his suspension, leaving open the possibility of his return on Friday against the Nuggets.

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After meeting with Heat president Pat Riley last week, Butler was expected to meet with Heat owner Micky Arison and chief executive officer Nick Arison on Thursday afternoon to discuss the path forward, league sources told the Miami Herald.

The alternative to bringing back Butler is to resume paying his $48.8 million salary now that he’s longer suspended while also reaching an agreement to keep him away from the team. But at this point, the Heat has not shown interest in having Butler remain away from the team while also continuing to pay him despite a drama-filled few weeks that included trade talks and an airing of grievances against each other.

While the Heat could continue to listen to trade offers for Butler up until the NBA’s Feb. 6 trade deadline, according to league sources, there has been little progress in trade talks so far.

The Heat doesn’t feel the need to rush into a Butler trade just for the sake of ridding itself of what has become an ugly situation. While the Heat prefers to get a deal done sooner rather than later, league sources have been adamant that the team will only accept an offer that it feels will help the team now and moving forward.

In any Butler trade, the Heat wants to acquire a quality player (or players) who can help the team this season. That will be the top priority for Miami. But the Heat also doesn’t want to take back long-term salary that’s going to clog its salary cap for the 2026 offseason, unless it’s for top-end All-Star talent. Draft capital is also important for the Heat, as it currently only has one unprotected first-round pick that it can deal away.

Even if Butler remains on the Heat’s roster past next month’s trade deadline, his intention at this point is to leave Miami to join another team this upcoming offseason.

Butler has a $52.4 million player option in his contract for next season. He could bypass that option to become a free agent and join another team by signing into cap space or through a sign-and-trade agreement.

But max-level cap space around the NBA is expected to be limited this offseason, with the Brooklyn Nets currently the only team in the league on track to have max cap space this summer. Longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein recently reported that the Nets have no plans to use that cap space to sign Butler amid their rebuild.

Also, executing a sign-and-trade transaction is difficult because teams above the first and second aprons are not allowed to acquire a player through a sign-and-trade.

So, while the initial plan was for Butler to turn down his $52.4 million player option to become a free agent this season, a league source indicated that Butler could exercise that player option to then get the Heat to trade him as a big expiring contract this offseason. There will be more teams that can help facilitate a Butler trade this summer that don’t have the cap space to do it now.

According to multiple sources, 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 mind-set changed when the extension wasn’t immediately offered by the Heat.

“I want to see me get my joy back from playing basketball,” Butler said on Jan. 2 during a postgame news conference 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,” Butler said.

The day after Butler made those comments, the Heat announced his suspension 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.”

While the Heat was on the West Coast, Butler was able to use the Heat’s facilities at Kaseya Center to stay in basketball shape even while suspended. Heat assistant coach Octavio De La Grana, player development coach Remy Ndiaye and assistant athletic trainer Armando Rivas did not travel with the team in order to be available to work with Butler in Miami during his suspension.

Butler, 35, 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. The Heat is 8-9 in games without Butler this season and went 3-4 during Butler’s seven-game suspension.

Butler, who is in the middle of his sixth season with the franchise, has 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.

The only Heat players ruled out for Friday’s game against the Nuggets are Josh Richardson (right heel inflammation) and Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery).

The Nuggets listed Nikola Jokic (right elbow sprain) and Aaron Gordon (right calf injury management) as questionable for Friday’s game in Miami. Jamal Murray is probable with knee inflammation.

The Heat, which went 3-3 on its Butler-less six-game West Coast trip, enters Thursday in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a 20-19 record.