The Miami Heat announced in a statement on social media Friday that they are suspending star forward Jimmy Butler for seven games. They also stated that they will be listening to trade offers for Butler after the 35-year-old had indicated he longer wants to be a part of the team. Butler is now expected to get traded by the Feb 6. trade deadline.
During Saturday's shootaround ahead of the Heat's matchup against the Utah Jazz, several Heat players spoke on Butler likely leaving the team for the first time.
“You go through this league with purity," center Bam Adebayo, who has played alongside Butler since he joined Miami in 2019, said. "And then for us, it’s taking it one game at a time. It’s disappointing when you see the organization and a player going head to head like that. But the rest of us got to figure out how to win games."
Adebayo said he has not talked to Butler since. As the team's captain, Adebayo is understanding of his leadership role at this time, and to keep his teammates locked in to compete at a high level and win going forward.
Bam on Jimmy: "I feel like he came to work. He tried to perform, just didn't go his way. I felt like he didn't want to be in the corner. We developed a system where we play around everybody. We just have to figure out how to incorporate it... we focus on who's with us now." pic.twitter.com/EBzGSJAMgE
— Naveen Ganglani (@naveenganglani) January 4, 2025
“It’s just weird,” Jovic said, via Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Of course, it’s the business of basketball. He’s trying to find his joy back, we’re going to find our rhythm back. Like I said, it’s hard to not see him around ... But I hope everything is going to settle down."
Heat guard Terry Rozier only joined the team last season, but said of the situation: "it's tough."
“That’s one of your locker room guys, that’s one of your teammates," Rozier said. "So it sucks to see that he won’t be around."
A silver lining of the Heat's statements is that the players no longer have to guess what's going to happen, or where things stand between the organization and Butler.
“We can go out there and just go play," Rozier acknowledged. "We don’t have to worry about what’s coming next. We obviously know what’s going on right now. So I think that’s going to be super helpful. It’s going to give us a lot of clarity and I think we’ll be fine.”
It's likely not the outcome the Heat wanted, but at least the situation appears to be nearing a resolution for both sides to move on.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Heat Teammates Candidly React To Jimmy Butler Likely Leaving Miami.
