NBA round-up: Jimmy Butler returns for Miami Heat after seven-match suspension
Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler returned from a seven-game suspension as his team lost 133-113 to the Denver Nuggets.
The 35-year-old is absent earlier this month The Heat requested a trade due to “conduct detrimental to the team.”
Although the Heat initially said they wouldn’t trade Butler, they later said they would listen to offers for the six-time NBA All-Star.
However, Butler remains with the Heat and scored 18 points in 33 minutes in Friday’s loss to Florida State.
“I’m back,” Butler said in a statement posted on social media by his agent, Bernie O. Lee, less than two hours before tipoff. The statement indicated it was in response to concerns about Butler’s career plans.
After the game, he answered questions in the locker room wearing the No. 45 Chicago Bulls jersey, the number Michael Jordan wore when he first came back from retirement.
“Honestly, everyone said a lot but me,” Butler said of the suspension.
“So, we’ll let people keep talking like they know everything and have all the answers. And then, sooner or later, the full truth will come out.
“But, until then, we’re going to continue to keep people talking. If I’m here, I’m going to go out and play ball.”
“It feels good to be able to go out there and compete with these guys and really run around,” Butler said of his teammates.
“As everyone is probably thinking, I have no problem with these guys. These guys are cool. They’re my friends. I don’t like them, never will, and never have.”
Butler has played for the Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Chicago Bulls before joining the Heat in 2019 and has played 378 games for the Heat.
