Concerning update emerges on ‘ugly’ Jimmy Butler situation

In appearance on “First Take” on Thursday morning, ESPN’s Shams Charania described Jimmy Butler‘s situation with the Heat as “ugly, bitter” and “untenable.”

Miami suspended Butler for two more games on Wednesday after he missed a team flight to Milwaukee. The flight was reportedly moved up after the Heat canceled a team practice. According to Charania, Butler planned to tell the Heat he was going to fly separately — something he’s been permitted to do in the past — but before he was able to, he was informed he was being suspended.

In the afternoon, Charania reported on “SportsCenter” that the Heat have talked to multiple teams about Butler over the past week, calling some of those conversations “productive,” but obviously a deal has yet to come together.

We have more of the latest on Butler:

• The exact list of teams Butler is open to being traded to remains somewhat unclear. Some reports indicated that Butler prefers primarily to play in Phoenix while his original request reportedly also included Dallas, Houston and Golden State. In the last two weeks, varying sources said “multiple teams,” including the Grizzlies, were advised to not trade for the six-time All-Star. Now, appearing on “NBA Today,” Marc J. Spears said Butler is open to playing anywhere but Miami or Memphis.
• Generally speaking, the Heat are open to accepting “pretty good players” with expiring contracts if they are unable to land a star in return for Butler, the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson writes. If said players were to have an extra year on their contracts beyond this one, Miami would covet draft capital in such a move. According to Jackson, the Heat are prioritizing having cap space in the 2026 offseason when several star players like Luka Doncic could potentially hit free agency. Right now, the Heat only have about $85M in cap committed for the 2026-27 season, giving them plenty of space to potentially add a max target.
• The worst-case scenario for Miami would be if Butler opts in to his contract this offseason and the Heat are unable to find a trade partner for him, Jackson opines in the same piece. That would block the Heat from having access to the $14M mid-level exception this summer and they’d be at $191.5M in committed salaries, close to the first apron. This specific scenario could force the Heat to release Duncan Robinson, per Jackson, as only $9.8M of his $19.9M contract next year is guaranteed.
• Heat coach Erik Spoelstra delivered a message to his team on Thursday amid the ongoing trade chatter, Jackson writes in another story. “The point I made to our team is get used to it,” Spoelstra said. “Get over it. This is the NBA life. This is the life we chose. If you think it’s just going to be predictable, you’re really mistaken.“
• Players also chimed in on the situation, per Jackson’s story. “It’s probably not the easiest to work with someone who’s in and out in any job,” Tyler Herro said. But Herro was sure to quickly emphasize: “We love Jimmy. We love for him to be here. I love Jimmy.” Robinson, Bam Adebayo and Kevin Love had similar messages, indicating that it hasn’t impacted their play and the team is solely focused on winning.

Rory Maher contributed to this post.