Is Heat's Jimmy Butler playing vs. Nuggets? Latest update

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As the Miami Heat completed a six-game road trip on the West Coast, it was all played without star Jimmy Butler serving a seven-game suspension. Now that Butler is off the injury report for a “team suspension,” there are still questions if he will truly play Friday night as the Heat host the Denver Nuggets.

This is a unique case as there is no issue in terms of health besides Butler being sick and away from the team for 13 days back in late December. He seems to be at 100 percent, but the concerns lie in the team wanting to bring him back to play in games and also from Butler’s perspective if he wants to play for an organization that in his eyes is not committed to him.

Here’s everything we know about Jimmy Butler and his playing status vs. the Nuggets.

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Jimmy Butler playing status vs. Nuggets 

As mentioned, Butler had been on the injury report for the last seven games due to what was listed as a “team suspension,” but with that completed, he was taken off, leading some to believe he will make his return and play in Friday’s game. It does seem likely that this will take place since the Heat have expected Butler to come back if a trade weren’t made by the end of his suspension according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

“According to a source close to the situation, Butler will be expected to rejoin the Heat and play in games if he's still on the roster at the end of his team-issued seven-game suspension,” Chiang wrote. “As of now, the Heat is not interested in having Butler remain away from the team while paying him the remainder of his $48.8 million salary for this season after his suspension is over.”

This all stems from Butker seeking a contract extension from the Heat this past offseason, but the team and especially president Pat Riley would be publically non-committal during his end-of-season press conference last May. Combining that with comments made by Riley telling Butler to “keep your mouth shut” as the star was boasting about beating teams last playoffs while being injured led to a fractured relationship.

Jimmy Butler lost his “joy” of playing basketball with the Heat

With other events, it all culminated after Miami lost to the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 2 where Butler said he had lost his “joy” of playing basketball and responded “probably not” when asked if it could be regained with the team.

"I want to see me get my joy back from playing basketball," Butler said. "And wherever that may be, we'll find out here pretty soon, I want to get my joy back. I'm happy here — off the court. But I want to be back to someone dominant. I want to hoop and I want to help this team win. Right now, I'm not doing that."

"I want to see me get my joy back from basketball. Wherever that may be."

Jimmy Butler after the Heat's loss to the Pacers tonight

(via @ZachWeinberger) pic.twitter.com/r483NHV4Jk

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 3, 2025

A day later, the Heat suspended Butler and said it was “due to conduct detrimental to the team” and that they would explore trade options which reportedly didn’t fit with what the team was looking for.

Butler met with Riley face-to-face to say he wants to be traded and won’t sign a new contract as he’s also supposed to meet with owner Mickey Arison. At any rate, it seems as if Butler will make his return and play in Friday’s game which seems surreal to some, but there is a lot of time for the team to come to a possible decision where he doesn’t participate.

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