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The Heat have been fortunate, to this point, to avoid major injuries to top-of-the-rotation players, even as they pile up a litany of nagging injuries up and down the roster. This has been especially true of star forward Jimmy Butler, who left the Miami Heat’s game against Utah in the second night of the team’s five-game road trip. Butler suffered a right foot irritation in that one, which had been his first game back from a four-game layoff with a left calf injury.
While the injury is not, apparently, serious, the heat are treating it as such. At the very least, they’re taking into account that Butler is 34 years old and sitting out these early-January games could provide valuable rest time that will benefit him later in the year.
That’s the intel from The Athletic NBA insider Shams Charania, who said on the Run it Back podcast that Butler’s age is one reason the Heat are being very cautious with his bumps and bruises. “Jimmy Butler is going to have to take some time here. He dealt with a calf strain on the opposite leg and now he has a foot issue on the other leg. Jimmy Butler, we forget, he is advanced in his career. This is a guy who is on the other side of 30. He’s played at such a high, peak level in his prime, his prime has extended so long in my opinion.”
Miami Heat Unclear on Jimmy Butler Timeline
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has offered few details about Butler’s injury status.
He was asked whether the injury itself occurred on the play after which Butler left the Utah game. “Yeah, it was on that play. He was driving to his right. It is what it is,” Spoelstra said.
Spoelstra was also asked about next steps. “He got an X-ray after the game, that was clean. We’ll just continue to treat it,” he said.
Charania pointed out that the Miami Heat have had some success without Butler on the floor, which has helped ease the pressure of rushing him back. They’ve gone 6-4, marginally better than the 9-9 they went without Butler last year. But the heat have won five of their last six without Butler.
“They’re going to be cautious with him,” Charania said. “Think about this team this year, they’ve won six of 10 games without Jimmy Butler this year, last year they were 9-9 without Jimmy Butler in the lineup. They’re playing at a much higher level when he is not on the floor which is a good sign for them going into the second-half of the season, going into the playoffs.”
Erik Spoelstra Has Injury Concerns
Heading into the final game of their road trip, the Heat stood at 20-14, fourth in the Eastern Conference and within 4.0 games of Milwaukee for the No. 2 seed. When he has not had an injury, Jimmy Butler has been very good, appearing in 24 games so far this season.
He is averaging 21.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 46.4% from the field and 37.7% from the 3-point range.
Butler is not the only injury concern for Spoelstra and the Miami Heat. Haywood Highsmith has been out with a concussion and Caleb Martin, who has played only 20 games this year, is out with an ankle injury.
“It’s all-hands-on-deck now,” Spoelstra said.
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