MIAMI — (AP) — Jimmy Butler got introduced to the Miami Heat crowd for the first time in two weeks Friday night.
Not everyone seemed thrilled.
It was a mixed reaction — some cheers and definitely some boos, the latter of which is unusual for the home team to be hearing during pregame introductions — for Butler's return to the Heat lineup after a seven-game suspension. He played against the Denver Nuggets as planned, missed a jumper on Miami's first possession, then got his first basket of the night on a dunk with 8:09 left in the opening quarter.
Butler missed Miami's last seven games while serving the suspension for conduct that the team deemed detrimental. The team is trying to trade Butler, saying that the six-time All-Star has asked to be moved elsewhere.
But he remains in Miami, for now, and was in the lineup Friday night.
“In terms of silly questions about, like, ‘What’s the temperature of the room?’ or ‘How everybody’s feeling?,’ that just sounds so dramatic," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We’re professionals. We're fine. Ready for tonight’s game. That’s the only thing that matters.”
Butler's agent, Bernie Lee, posted a letter on social media Friday with a very short message from Butler. “I'm back,” it said, the whole bit copying how Michael Jordan's agent, David Falk, announced — in a fax — how Jordan was ending his retirement in March 1995 and returning to the Chicago Bulls.
There have been attempts at humor throughout this process, including Heat forward Kevin Love stirring things up on Instagram with various clips. But to the Heat, parts of this have been no laughing matter, especially since it'll still likely end with Butler either leaving via trade sometime before the Feb. 6 deadline or this summer — possibly as a free agent.
It has been a few weeks since the circus really got going. An astute social media user noticed that Butler’s rotating hair colors throughout December — coincidentally or not — matched the primary colors for Golden State, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix.
Those are the four teams mentioned most prominently as Butler’s preferred trade destinations, though he has not shared any such list publicly. By league rule, any player who “publicly expresses a desire to be traded” is subject to a fine of up to $150,000.
Then again, that’s just a sliver of what this has already cost Butler.
The seven-game suspension will cost him about $2.4 million, though the National Basketball Players Association has said it will file an appeal. That appeal, if successful, could lessen the financial hit of the suspension or possibly eliminate it altogether.
“Look, we work in a league of complexity," Spoelstra said before Friday's game. "We’re in an unusual place right now, but really, all it is, is complex. And we fully plan on operating within this complexity. So, it’s my job to prepare this team and get them ready to play at a high level. And that’s what I’m doing. That’s what the plan is.”
Butler became eligible last summer for a two-year, $113 million extension from the Heat. It was not offered, in part because Heat President Pat Riley has said the team wants Butler — who has missed about one of every four games since joining the Heat, for a variety of reasons — to be available to play more. Put plainly, that means the Heat couldn't envision paying someone an average of about $57 million per season while missing considerable time.
Butler began this season saying he had no problem going out and proving that he is worth such a contract. “I guess I’ve got to go and hoop,” Butler said at the team's media day in late September. “I’ve got to prove that I am a major part of winning and rightfully so. I’ve done it before. This is no different. ... That will take care of itself.”
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