The Miami Heat suspended Jimmy Butler for the second time in three weeks, raising the possibility that he may have played his last game with the franchise.
Butler received the latest suspension — a two-game suspension — for what the Heat considered a “continuing pattern of disregard for team rules, insubordination and behavior detrimental to the club.”
Among the offenses mentioned by the club in the statement it issued Wednesday night was the fact that Butler missed his flight to Milwaukee earlier in the day. The Heat were scheduled to play the Bucks on Thursday and at Brooklyn on Saturday.
The soonest Butler could play again for the Heat would be Monday, at home against Orlando. And that would depend on him still being on the roster, which doesn’t seem certain.
Butler told the Heat in recent weeks that he wants a trade, a demand he has not made public because league rules do not allow players to do so. Any basketball player who makes such a demand public risks a fine of up to $150,000.
But the Heat revealed that request by suspending him in early January for what they considered conduct detrimental to the team, and stressed at the time that they would work to satisfy his trade request.
The NBA transfer deadline is February 6.
Butler was suspended for seven games earlier this month, costing him about $2.4 million in salary. Butler returned last week and had played in each of Miami’s last three games, averaging 13 points in 29.3 minutes.
The Heat left for Milwaukee around 2:15 pm on Wednesday (2015 GMT). That departure time is earlier than Miami usually leaves for most of its trips, and it’s unclear if that was a factor in Butler’s delay.
The dates of the matches scheduled on this Heat trip coincide with a paddle tennis tournament in Miami, which mentions Butler as honorary president and co-captain. Butler’s coffee company, Big Face, is also involved with the event.
But it was not known if Butler planned to be present at that contest in Miami and if that had anything to do with him missing the flight to Milwaukee.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.