Heat's Jimmy Butler to return vs. 76ers after 4-game injury absence
11/18/2024 01:56 PM
After missing the last four games with a right ankle injury, Jimmy Butler will return for Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat on Monday.
Butler is available to play for Miami’s first game of the year against the Philadelphia 76ers, the team announced on X, formerly Twitter. In the same announcement, the Heat confirmed that Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Terry Rozier III will not play in the game with an ankle and foot injury, respectively.
Neither Jaquez nor Rozier’s expected absence is surprising after the team’s loss to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night. Jaquez left the game in the third quarter after appearing to roll his ankle on a missed jump shot and struggled to put weight on his foot. Rozier did not look visibly injured in the game but took the court for just 27 minutes, one game after playing a season-low 23 minutes.
In his return, Butler will face the most recent of his three former teams before joining the Heat. After being traded early in the 2018-2019 season, Butler played 55 games for Brett Brown and the 76ers before the failed experiment ended in the ensuing offseason.
Jimmy Butler’s 2024-2025 campaign
Butler has not played since hurting his ankle seven minutes into a game against the Denver Nuggets on Nov. 7. The Heat have gone 2-2 in his absence, alternating wins and losses. In that time, Miami also played their first two games of the 2024 NBA Cup and went 1-1 with a win over the Pacers and a loss to the Detroit Pistons.
In just eight games on the year, Butler is averaging an underwhelming 16.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists per outing. Though a small sample size, the numbers would be the 35-year-old’s lowest statistical production since his third year in the league with the Chicago Bulls.
With Miami returning home the day after losing to the Pacers on Sunday night, they will face the 76ers on the second leg of a back-to-back.
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