Heat’s Jimmy Butler misses practice with ‘excused absence,’ expected to play vs. Raptors
All-Star wing Jimmy Butler was not at Sunday’s Miami Heat practice at Walt Disney World. But he’s expected to be available to play in Monday’s 1:30 p.m. game against the Toronto Raptors, according to multiple league sources, barring something unforeseen.
Butler missed Sunday’s light practice with what the team termed as an “excused absence,” but he never left the NBA bubble.
Butler was not on the league’s 5:30 p.m. Sunday injury report for Monday’s game against Toronto. The only two Heat players on the report are Bam Adebayo (right quadriceps contusion) and Goran Dragic (upper back spasms), who are both listed as probable.
“We know Jimmy very well as a leader. He watches film himself,” Crowder said of Butler’s absence Sunday. “So the things that we saw today, I’m sure he saw as well and we’re going to talk to him as soon as he gets out of quarantine and whatever he’s in. But it’s just next-man-up mentality from the standpoint of staying locked in and engaged because we know he’s locked in and engaged once he’s able to get back with us. It’s definitely a curveball for all of us to hear stuff like what’s going on with him, and you never know what to expect. You just have to stay mentally engaged as much as possible during this time.”
In Saturday’s 125-105 win over the Denver Nuggets, Butler opened the restart with 22 points, four rebounds, seven assists and three steals in 30 minutes at Disney.
Next up for the Heat is a back-to-back set that begins Monday against the Raptors and ends with a Tuesday matchup against the Boston Celtics. No. 4 Miami entered Sunday just 1.5 games behind No. 3 Boston, and two games ahead of the No. 5 Indiana Pacers and three games ahead of the No. 6 Philadelphia 76ers.
“It’s a crazy world, a crazy bubble,” center Kelly Olynyk said when asked about practicing without Butler on Sunday. “You’re not going to know who’s here day to day. Stuff happens, it could be whatever. Injuries, personal issues, you never know in life. But obviously, we’ve played without Jimmy before. So it’s not like the whole world is coming to an end. But obviously, we want him out here. He’s a key to our team and we’re better with him.”
Butler, 30, is averaging team-highs in points (20.3), assists (6.1) and steals (1.7) in his first season with the Heat. Miami has outscored opponents by 234 points with Butler on the court and has been outscored by four points when Butler is not playing.
This story was originally published August 2, 2020 at 1:14 PM.
