Heat's Erik Spoelstra has biggest Jimmy Butler request after suspension return
Yesterday at 02:11 PM
MIAMI – Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler made his return in Friday night’s loss to the Denver Nuggets as the basketball world has been eager to watch what the disgruntled forward would do. Butler had been coming off a seven-game suspension due to “conduct detrimental to the team” and sharing his displeasure with the team publically but had a solid effort against Denver as head coach Erik Spoelstra speaks on what more he wants to see from him.
Butler finished Friday’s loss with 18 points (second on the team) on seven for 15 shooting from the field, missed both three-point attempts, to go along with three rebounds and two assists. He would be more engaged in the third quarter having 10 points as Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints that they will “build” on the outing and has one request for the star.
“That’s something we’ll build on you know for sure, we want him being aggressive,” Spoelstra said before Sunday afternoon’s game against the Spurs.
Asked Erik Spoelstra about what he's liked and been seeing from Jimmy Butler in his first game back and what he wants to see more of from him.
"That's something we'll build on, we want him being aggressive…" #HeatNationpic.twitter.com/xjqJiAYRfD
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) January 19, 2025
Amidst the drama between the Heat and Butler, people could be overanalyzing the play from Butler since his effort level had been questioned, especially in the two contests on Jan. 1 and Jan. 2 where he came back from an illness. In the second of those two games where the team lost to the Indiana Pacers, Butler said he had lost his “joy” of playing basketball and responded “probably not” when asked if it could be reagined in Miami.
Heat’s Erik Spoelstra trying to not feed into drama with Jimmy Butler
What has transpired since then is a trade request as Butler has reportedly doubled down on his mindset to both Heat president Pat Riley and owner Mickey Arison. Until a possible deal is made with the trade deadline on Feb. 6, Butler will play in games and help the team.
When Spoelstra was asked Friday if they need him to be more involved, the long-time head coach doesn’t want to feed into the narratives and is more so focused on getting their “a**** kicked” by the Nuggets.
“I don’t know. We haven’t seen him, you know, obviously, in a couple of weeks, you know, he hasn’t played a lot of games. So that is likely, you know, part of this. I know what storylines you’re looking for. I’m not feeding into any of that tonight,” Spoelstra said. “We got our a**** kicked. I know what you want to talk about, I know what I saw out there from a defensive standpoint. It was not good enough. And that’s three straight games now, you know, we found our identity and how we can win games. And then they know, three games, we haven’t been able to put that together, commit to that side of the floor, and we’ve paid the price.”
Erik Spoelstra on Jimmy Butler's outing and the joy comments.
"We haven't seen him in a couple of weeks, he hasn't played a lot of games so that is likely part of this, I know what storylines you're looking for, I'm not feeding into that. We got our asses kicked…" #HeatNationpic.twitter.com/cGxO7EJdUs
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) January 18, 2025
At any rate, the 35-year-old will do his job in the meantime, but there’s no doubt that the problem won’t go away as proved by Butler breaking his silence Friday about the drama. In the meantime, the Heat still have a season to play as they are 20-20 which puts them ninth in the Eastern Conference before they take on San Antonio.
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