Jimmy Butler suspended for 7 games by Heat for 'conduct detrimental to the team'

The Miami Heat have suspended Jimmy Butler for seven games for “multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team” and announced they are “listening to offers” for the All-Star forward eight days after team president Pat Riley publicly said the team “will not trade” Butler.

“Through his actions and statements, he has shown he no longer wants to be part of this team,” the Heat wrote in a team statement on Friday. “Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they wish to be traded, therefore, we will listen to offers.”

As first reported by ESPN, the National Basketball Players Association plans to file a grievance to dispute the suspension, a league source confirmed to The Athletic.

The Heat’s decision to suspend Butler marks the latest turning point in an obviously eroding relationship. Following Miami’s 128-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 2, days after returning to the Heat after a five-game absence, Butler said he lost his joy for playing basketball and was willing to restore it “wherever that will be.” When asked if that joy could be restored in Miami, Butler said “probably not.”

Shortly afterward, a league source confirmed an ESPN report that Butler informed the Heat of his desire to be traded to any other NBA team by the league’s Feb. 6 trade deadline.

Miami HEAT statement on Jimmy Butler:

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.

— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 4, 2025

In the two games preceding Butler’s suspension, he totaled 11 shot attempts while averaging nine points in a little more than 25 minutes per game. He did not log a single minute in the fourth quarter of either outing. The 35-year-old forward is on pace to finish behind teammates Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo in usage rate for the second straight season, marking a continued shift in his place in Miami’s hierarchy as the Heat have trusted the latter two to carry more offensive responsibility.

“It can be my role here, but that’s not what I’m used to.” Butler said Thursday of his decreased usage. “I haven’t been that since, I don’t know, my first, second, third year in the league, where I just went out and played defense. But I competed — I guarded and tried to not let my man score. That’s what I’m doing now.”

The two sides were unable to negotiate a contract extension after last season, prompting the 2023 Eastern Conference finals MVP to decide to play out the 2024-25 season and convey a desire to opt out of the final year of his current contract, which would pay him $52.4 million. Butler has until this summer to decide on that option, which would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent and sign with the Heat or a new team.

Butler has appeared in 22 of the Heat’s 32 games this season, meaning he’s missed at least 10 games in each of his five-plus seasons with the Heat. When Butler has played, Miami has a 12-10 record compared to a 5-3 mark when he’s sat out. With the five-time All-NBA selection on the court this season, the team sports a plus-4.3 net rating, according to NBA.com. When he’s been either on the bench or outright unavailable to play, Miami is being outscored by 0.4 points per 100 possessions.

Availability has been the focal point of the friction between Butler and Miami’s front office.

Dating back to last season, there has been tension between the six-time All-Star and Miami. Last May, Riley bemoaned Butler’s claim that he could have led the Heat past the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks in last year’s playoffs had he been healthy.

“If you’re not on the court playing, you should keep your mouth shut,” Riley said at his end-of-season news conference.

Since then, Butler has grown louder about his discontent over his contract status and role. In December, as reports surfaced of his preference to be traded to one of the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks or Phoenix Suns, Butler started changing his hair color to match those of his potential suitors — blonde for Warriors, red for Rockets, blue for Mavericks and orange for Suns. When asked about his hair choices in a rare post-practice media session on Tuesday, Butler credited the idea to a loved one.

“My daughter picked purple, so I went with purple,” Butler said of Tuesday’s choice. “She’s gonna pick the color tonight too. I think I know what it’s gonna be, but she’s gonna pick it.”

Butler’s scoring average this season (17.6) is on pace to be his lowest since 2013-14 with the Chicago Bulls (13.1), although his 55.2 percent shooting mark would mark his most efficient in 14 seasons as a pro. He ranks fourth among Heat players with 10.5 shot attempts per game, trailing Herro (17.5), Adebayo (13.7) and Terry Rozier (10.9).

Despite his statistical decline, Butler has shown flashes of still being able to put up big numbers. On Dec. 16 against the Detroit Pistons, he became the first player in NBA history to record a 30-point triple-double without committing a foul or turnover, though Miami lost 125-124 in overtime. (The league started tracking individual turnovers in the 1977-78 season.)

Close losses have been a sore point for Butler and the Heat. Miami has six losses by three or fewer points this season, tied with the Sacramento Kings (15-19) and Toronto Raptors (8-26) for the most such defeats in the NBA. In clutch situations — defined as the score being within five points in a game’s final five minutes — the Heat are only 7-11; they have more clutch losses than lottery-bound teams like the Portland Trail Blazers (11-22 overall record), Utah Jazz (7-25) and Washington Wizards (6-25).

“It’s not a tough adjustment to me. I’m going out to compete to win either way, whether I score nine points or 29 points,” Butler said Thursday. “I will compete – that’s one thing that I will say. So, you won’t say that I’m out there not playing hard. It may look like that because my usage is down and I don’t shoot the ball a lot, but we won’t sit here and say that I don’t play hard.”

With Miami now open to entertaining offers for Butler, it remains to be seen what it will take to end what has become a morbid chapter in the franchise’s history after one of its best stretches. Miami posted the NBA’s seventh-best win percentage during Butler’s first five seasons in South Florida.

Miami will be without Butler on Saturday as it hosts Utah before hitting the road for a six-game road trip. By then, it’s possible Butler will finally have his wish granted.

“I want to see me get my joy back from playing basketball, and wherever that may be, we’ll find out here pretty soon,” Butler said Thursday. “I’m happy here off the court, but I want to be back to somewhat dominant.”

Required reading

(Photo: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)