The Lakers will get a break in their upcoming match-up against the Heat as Jimmy Butler will be suspended for the contest.
While the Lakers have had a largely drama-free season, particularly in recent weeks and months, the Miami Heat have been on the opposite end of that spectrum.
With the Jimmy Butler situation deteriorating, Friday marked the breaking point for the franchise as they announced they had suspended their star forward for seven games for conduct detrimental to the team.
Miami Heat: Jimmy Butler has been suspended for seven games for multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team over the course of the season and particularly the last several weeks.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 4, 2025
The Heat are also open to trading Butler after pushing back against that less than a month ago, as they also released in a statement on Friday.
“Through his actions and statements, he has shown he no longer wants to be part of this team,” a statement released by the Heat on Friday night said. “Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they wish to be traded, therefore, we will listen to offers.”
As to how this pertains to the Lakers, Miami is slated to travel West soon and the Lakers are exactly seven games away, meaning it would be the final game of his suspension.
For what it’s worth, the Player’s Association is filing a grievance on the suspension but, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, that is unlikely to stop the suspension.
The National Basketball Players Association will soon file a grievance to dispute the Miami Heat’s seven-game suspension of Jimmy Butler, sources tell me and @WindhorstESPN. The grievance process is lengthy, however, and will likely not stop suspension.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 4, 2025
Isn’t it nice to watch chaos unfold when it doesn’t involve the Lakers?
Now, if you’re wondering about the Lakers making a trade for Butler, you can put a pin in that thought as we’ll have an article on that matter this weekend most likely. However, the short of it is that, after trading D’Angelo Russell, the Lakers would have to aggregate four players just to match Butler’s salary.
The Lakers’ relatively easy stretch of games only gets easier with the upcoming schedule. However, the annoying Heat Culture means Miami will still play hard even without Butler. And Butler didn’t even play all that well when they beat the Lakers by 40 earlier this season.
Consider this is a big advantage for the Lakers and one they surely need to take care of.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
