Jimmy Butler ‘probably can’t’ find joy on the court again in Miami

MIAMI (AP) – Jimmy Butler says he needs to find joy again on the basketball court. And when asked if he can find that joy in Miami, he had a two-word answer.

“Probably not,” he said.

The relationship between Butler and the Heat — a talk for weeks now — seems to have further worsened. The Heat lost to Indiana 128-115 on Thursday night, Butler scored exactly nine points and played exactly zero seconds in the fourth quarter for the second straight game. It also happened on Wednesday in a win over New Orleans.

“What do I want to see happen? I want to see me get my joy back playing basketball, wherever that is — we’ll find out pretty soon,” Butler said. “I want my joy back. I’m happy here, off the field, but I want to get back to a dominant place. I want to jump and I want to help this team win. Right now, I’m not doing that. “

It is unclear what happens next. The Heat do not practice Friday and host Utah on Saturday.

ESPN reported following Butler’s postgame comments Thursday that he has “indicated” to the Heat that he wants a trade. Butler has not said publicly whether he wants to be moved. The network also reported on Christmas Day that Butler would prefer a trade before the Feb. 6 deadline — which in part prompted the Heat to make the rather unusual move last week. saying they won’t do business with him.

Of course, Thursday’s game was not a typical Butler performance. He used many possessions largely in the corner on offense and took just six shots in 27 minutes; he took five shots from the floor on Wednesday. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra pretty much made Butler the point guard for parts of the third quarter in an attempt to get things going. It didn’t work.

“Obviously he’s frustrated because he’s on the corner,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said. “So he has a lot of things going on in his corner. For us, we keep the most important thing, which our coach always tells us. We play to win, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Butler said he felt he was focused and doing his job Thursday, adding “or at least what my job is now.”

“It’s not what I’m used to being,” Butler said. “I haven’t been since my first, second, third year in the league, just going out there and playing defense. I competed. I guarded. That’s what I do now.”

Butler hasn’t reached double figures in three consecutive games, the first time that has happened since November 2013. He was scoreless against Oklahoma City on Dec. 20 and left midway through the first quarter because of a sprained ankle and an illness.

He’s had moments where he still seems very elite: Butler is less than a month removed from a 35-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist, four-steal game against Detroit on Dec. 16. But he’s also been held to 10 points or less six times already this season; in fairness, he left two of those games early due to illness or injury.

“We tried to get him involved, I thought,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said after Thursday’s game.

Butler was the best player on two Heat teams that went to the NBA Finals. He was eligible for a two-year, $113 million extension last summer, and Miami has yet to offer the 35-year-old a new deal. Butler has a $52 million player option for next season or can leave Miami in free agency this summer — if he stays with the team after the trade deadline.

Spoelstra has repeatedly said he wants Butler in Miami and said he believes the back-to-back nine-point games are partly due to Butler missing nearly two weeks with an illness. Wednesday was Butler’s first game back after that stretch.

“It’s about being aggressive,” Spoelstra said, speaking before Butler’s postgame comments. “We’ve got to figure it out. I’ll figure it out. He’s got to figure it out, too. We’ve got to figure it out.”

Butler insisted he would continue to compete.

“I’m going out there to compete to win, whether I score nine points or 29 points,” Butler said. “I’m going to compete. That’s one thing I’m going to say. You’re not going to say I’m not playing hard out there. It might look like that because my usage is down and I’m not shooting the ball a lot, but we’re not going to sit here and say I don’t play hard.”

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