The Jimmy Butler saga continues to rage on in Miami, and the whereabouts and desired of the star guard have become a bigger story for the Heat than their play in the floor itself. On Wednesday, the Heat suspended Butler for two games for missing a team flight to Milwaukee for the team's game against the Bucks on Thursday.
After the decision was announced, the team released a statement about the suspension on social media.
“We have suspended Jimmy Butler for two games for continued pattern of disregard of team rules, insubordinate conduct and conduct detrimental to the team, including missing today’s team flight to Milwaukee,” the statement read.
This is the second time this season that Butler has been suspended by the team after the Heat sent him home for seven games for his comments indicating that he wanted a trade and had “lost his joy” on the floor with the team. Now, Butler will be out of the lineup again while the Heat front office continues to try to find a trade partner for him.
Butler played in just three games since returning from the initial suspension and failed to crack 20 points in any of them, two of which the Heat lost. Overall, he has started to become a distraction for a team that is grinding to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, and now a trade seems imminent.
The Phoenix Suns seem to be the most likely destination for Butler, as they have the salary to send back in Bradley Beal and the willingness and desperation to make a big move. Now that Butler continues to do things to get himself suspended by the team, he could be accelerating the trade process.
Whichever team that Butler ends up on is getting a stellar playoff performer when he is focused and locked in. Butler can be as secondary scorer and a great complementary cutter and screener for any offense while also providing value as a very good wing defender on the other end. The Heat are no longer getting that out of Butler as he seems to have checked out mentally, but another team will likely be benefitting from those skills very soon.
