More becomes clear on Butler and where things stand. And Heat’s Riley on player empowerment

More than a week after the Heat suspended Jimmy Butler for conduct detrimental to the team, Miami has not been presented with an appealing offer and is planning for Butler to rejoin the Heat for next Friday’s game against Denver, multiple league sources said Thursday.

According to sources, that would change only if an appealing trade offer is made in the next week. In the meantime, the Heat will continue to try to trade him; those efforts have not stopped. But the market has been soft and no team has been willing to offer anything that particularly intrigues the Heat.

A source reiterated that before Butler’s “conduct detrimental to the team” that triggered a suspension, the team had planned to play out the season with Butler, with the hopes of making a playoff run, even with the knowledge that his intention was to opt out of his contract (a $52.4 million player option) for next season.

Miami started looking to trade him only after he formally requested one. The Heat made no attempts to trade him during the offseason.

What’s more, the Heat was strongly led to believe before the season started that Butler would play out this season, be professional and not do anything disruptive.

The Heat never presented Butler with an offer that would extend his contract beyond his $52.4 million player option for next season, in part because of concern about frequency of games missed. Butler made clear he was interested only in a max offer.

Heat president Pat Riley hasn’t commented publicly about the Butler issue, beyond a team statement, but offered some insight into his mind-set about modern players, and how he has needed to adjust, during a conversation with Dan Le Batard weeks ago, one that dropped on social media on Thursday.

“The players who want to express themselves in a way that is absolutely anti what my beliefs are in representing an organization, whether it’s to grow a bigger brand, to make more money, to go out there and separate themselves a little bit from the pack. There’s nothing you can do about that,” Riley said, without mentioning Butler’s name. “The league wants it. Content is king and I have found that out that trying to keep the media out, the commissioner won’t allow that. Access is what it’s all about.

“And so players’ personalities today, the younger generation is just different than it was when I grew up. I grew up, and I think most of us my age, at a time when our parents were harder if we had them. If we had what they would call the nuclear family. It was hard, but it was different. There was, even if it was a stone cold house, there was love there. We had a place to go home every night and there were two parents that cared about you, that provided for you. Maybe they didn’t love you like you wanted them to love you, but it was different. I’m not saying today’s player is not that, but it was harder and we understood that.

“So I understand this generation of players and how they want to go about living their life and the music they listen to and how they brand themselves and what they wear and how they dress. It might be a little bit more flamboyant than what I want, but that’s who they are and I respect that.”

But then Riley drew a distinction between that and having in a way to the detriment of the team.

“There’s a difference,” he said. “Be who you want to be, but in one of the great biblical terms: Render unto Caesar what is his. When the apostles were trying to give all of their money to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he said: ‘No, pay Caesar what he wants, what he is and then give it to other people.’

“So as players, they have to render unto the Heat really what is theirs too. And while they go out there and they do these other things, you can’t shortcut it with us. So, I’ve actually explained this to players is that while you’re under contract to us, you do owe us something. Your Collective Bargaining Agreement contract says that, so don’t ever take that lightly. We have a very cooperative group of people. But yes, I feel like I owe and I have to render unto Micky [Arison] as my boss. I don’t do it in any other way other than with respect and I feel the same way about the players.”

With the Heat on an ongoing six-game Western swing, Butler has been back at Kaseya Center working out with three Heat staffers. His seven-game suspension runs through the final game of the road trip, next Wednesday at the Lakers.

Love, Herro updates

Heat forward Kevin Love missed Thursday’s game in Utah and was away from the team for personal reasons. Guard Josh Richardson (heel) was upgraded to questionable for Thursday’s game.

.▪ Guard Tyler Herro had no explanation for his 10th place ranking in fan All Star voting, down from ninth a week ago. “Fans are going to vote whoever they think is an All Star. I wouldn’t say a popularity contest, but the coaches have a big say in the reserves. That’s what matters right now. The fans are the fans and they pick two starting guards. I don’t have to please the fans right now. There are a lot of good guards in the East.”

The All Star game starters will be announced Jan. 23 and the reserves on Jan. 30. In determining starters, fan balloting counts for 50 percent, with media and players also accounting for 25 percent of the vote. Head coaches pick the reserves.

▪ Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., who has spent much of his life in Southern California, said he had no immediate family impacted by the devastating ongoing fires but passionately spoke about the frustration of the continued problem of wildfires in the region.

“It’s very frustrating to see; it’s almost a yearly occurrence, Santa Ana winds come and for some reason, we can’t control these fires. Southern California can’t get it under control. You see it years and years and nothing is being done to prevent this. It’s frustrating as someone from Southern California who sees it every year. A lot of this stuff can be prevented and higher ups are not doing the necessary stuff to take care of it.”