MIAMI — Jimmy Butler walked out of the Miami Heat locker room on Friday night wearing a Michael Jordan jersey. It wasn’t a No. 23 jersey. It was a No. 45 — the one Jordan briefly wore when he returned to the Chicago Bulls after coming out of retirement in March 1995.
Jimmy Butler is back with the Miami Heat after his suspension, but nothing has really changed. Butler wants the Heat to trade him and the Heat will continue to try to fulfill that request ahead of the NBA’s Feb. 6 trade deadline.
In his current standoff with the Heat front office ( read: Pat Riley ), Miami attempted to avoid the “burn everything down” portion by suspending Butler seven games for conduct detrimental to the team ( read: attempting to force a trade ).
Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler took a page out of NBA legend Michael Jordan's book to announce his return to the lineup versus the Denver Nuggets on Friday.
In Jimmy Butler vs. Miami Heat, the page has merely turned to the next chapter in the saga of a player who wants out and a team that publicly remains on record as being amenable to moving him out.
Butler missed Miami’s last seven games while serving a suspension for conduct that the team deemed detrimental.
Jimmy Butler returned from his seven game suspension in the Miami Heat’s 133-113 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday at the Kaseya Center.
Butler was indeed back, scoring 18 points in 33 minutes in a Heat loss to the Nuggets, where Denver was comfortably in charge most of the night. Nikola Jokic had a 24-point triple-double to lead Denver.
Disgruntled superstar Jimmy Butler's relationship with the Miami Heat seems unfixable according to NBA insider.