The Heat said Friday that Jimmy Butler will remain in Miami for the final two games of their road trip before rejoining the team next week.
Miami visits the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday and then the Houston Rockets on Sunday. They’ll be back at home Wednesday to play the New Orleans Pelicans.
The team is citing competition reconditioning as the reason for Butler’s absence, the same explanation for why he missed its win over the Orlando Magic on Thursday.
Friday’s update came a day after Heat president Pat Riley said the team is not trading Butler this season. League sources previously told ESPN’s Shams Charania that the six-time All-Star Butler prefers a trade out of Miami ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline, and that he’s open to trade destinations such as the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets.
“We usually don’t comment on rumors, but all this speculation has become a distraction to the team and is not fair to the players and coaches. Therefore, we will make it clear — we are not trading Jimmy Butler,” Riley said in a statement.
Butler twisted an ankle in Miami’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder last Friday. He missed the remainder of that game and the next two Heat games — at the Magic on Saturday and against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday — but with illness, not the ankle, cited as the reason.
Butler, 35, is averaging 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists this season. He is one of the NBA’s elite competitors and a perennial postseason performer. His teams have made the playoffs in 12 of his first 13 seasons, including the five previous seasons in Miami, where he has led the Heat to two NBA Finals berths and one additional Eastern Conference finals appearance.
Josh Richardson (heel) also won’t face the Hawks, the team said Friday.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
