The Miami Heat have suspended Jimmy Butler once again, getting rid of the disgruntled star on the team’s upcoming road trip after he missed the team flight to Milwaukee. While Butler was going to join the team on his own, he was suspended before he had a chance to leave Miami.
This is Butler’s second suspension of the month, earlier being suspended by the franchise for a seven-game West Coast road trip. Shams Charania has confirmed Butler’s absence as the Heat continue trying to trade him.
“Jimmy Butler missed a team flight tonight from Miami to Milwaukee. They have a two-game road trip tomorrow night against the Milwaukee Bucks and then over the weekend, against the Brooklyn Nets. So, Jimmy Butler misses that flight and planned to join the team tonight but instead of allowing him, Miami is sending/keeping him home. That’s nine games worth of suspension this month.”
“We know he wants a trade out of Miami. The Heat have engaged in conversations to move him. This has become an untenable situation. In the words of some of their coaches and players, distraction, chaos, a situation where there is a lack of clarity in the Heat organization. He’s clocking in for work and playing games, but there’s an uneasy feeling in the air around Jimmy Butler in Miami.”
This is going from trade drama to an actual saga as fans and experts are getting exhausted by the constant escalations. Either the Heat keep suspending Butler to send a message or Butler continues to disrespect them blatantly until he’s traded away. The solution is to get rid of him, but the prideful Heat organization would rather blow their season up by keeping Butler around instead of trading him away to preserve harmony.
Pat Riley doesn’t want Butler to ‘win,’ so he is trying to make the process of getting a trade as uncomfortable as possible for the star. It shows that Riley is out of touch with the modern NBA, as all he’s doing is hurting his own team’s chances of success.
The rest of the franchise is seemingly caught in the middle of an ego battle between Butler and Riley. Suspending him to take money out of his pocket is going to reinforce the belief that stars no longer want to play for the Heat or the out-of-touch Riley, explaining why the Godfather failed to land any sort of a co-star for Butler in his near six-season tenure.
Butler is averaging 17.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.8 assists this season, not giving it his all on the court. The Heat and Riley resent this as well as Butler’s trade request, which has led to a complete explosion in their relationship.
This isn’t the first star that Riley has run out of town and likely won’t be the last. The NBPA will have a field day warning players about the Heat organization after everything that’s gone down this season.
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