The Miami Heat announced on Friday that they have suspended Jimmy Butler for seven games for “multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team over the course of the season and particularly the last several weeks.”
This is fancy wording meaning that Butler wants to be traded and has started to make things very uncomfortable on and off the court for the Heat. He is barely participating offensively, and on Thursday he said the situation can’t be fixed between him and the Heat in his postgame press conference.
The Heat said in their statement that they will now listen to offers for Butler, but in the meantime, they are clearly not interested in paying him to be a malcontent. Indeed, this suspension is unpaid, meaning Butler will lose $2.35 million ($346,543 per game) as a percentage of his $48.8M salary for this season, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The National Basketball Players Association isn’t going to take this lying down. The union announced on Friday that a grievance will be filed to recoup Butler’s money, but that process could take up to a year and likely won’t affect this suspension in real time. In other words, Butler will have to get his money back down the road should he win the case.
“The 7-game suspension imposed tonight by the Miami Heat on Jimmy Butler is excessive and inappropriate, and we intend to file a grievance challenging the discipline,” the NBPA said in a statement.
The NBPA is going to argue that Butler is showing up and performing his job within the role that the Heat have carved out for him. Further, to be fair to Butler, all he has done — at least publicly — is answer questions that he has been asked. Here’s the transcript from Thursday night:
Reporter: How did you feel about your performance and focus tonight?
Butler: “I felt great. I was focused. Felt like I did my job well. At least what my job is now.”
Reporter: When you say what your job is now, we’re not used to seeing you stand in the corner for extended periods like that. Is that a team approach that has cast you that way? And for you to be your best version of yourself, can that be your role and can you thrive to the best of your ability?
Butler: “It can be my role here. But that’s not what I’m used to. I haven’t been that since my first, second, third year in the league where I just went out there and just played defense. I compete. I guarded. I tried not to let my man score. That’s what I’m doing now.”
Reporter: [Heat] Coach [Eric Spoelstra] was in here saying he wants to get you more at the point and get you more activated, is that something that you’re amenable to?
Butler: “That ain’t gonna fix it.”
Reporter: What will fix it? What do you want to see happen to fix it?
Butler: “I want to see me get my joy back for playing basketball. Wherever that may be, we’ll find out here pretty soon. But I want to get my joy back. I’m happy here … off the court. But I want to be back to somewhere dominant. I want to hoop. I want to help this team win and right now I’m not doing that.”
Reporter: Can you get your joy back [in Miami] on the court?
Butler: “Probably not.”
Again, the NBPA is going to argue that Butler merely answered the questions that were posed to him. It’s a little disingenuous. He didn’t go scorched earth, and hasn’t in other instances either, but there is probably higher road available to him, in tone if nothing else.
It will be interesting to see how this comes out. Remember, the NBPA also filed a grievance with the Philadelphia 76ers to recoup the approximately $20M that Ben Simmons lost when he didn’t show up for training camp and later did not play the entire season. Simmons argued his mental health struggles were no different than a physical injury. Ultimately, the 76ers and Simmons agreed to a settlement for an undisclosed amount.
But again, that’s down the road and it’s only about the money. For basketball purposes, Butler won’t be around the Heat for the next seven games (a little under two weeks), and Miami will be busy fielding trade offers. Stay tuned.
