In their ongoing six-game road trip, the Miami Heat have a fairly difficult schedule. But they have managed to emerge victorious in the first three games of the trip, having defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the New Orleans Pelicans. As Erik Spoelstra’s boys travel to California next to go up against the Sacramento Kings, fans will hope that the 2023 NBA Finalists can clinch their first four-game win streak since the end of December. But will Jimmy Butler be available against De’Aaron Fox and Co. at Golden 1 Center tonight?
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Apart from Josh Richardson, who is “out” due to a right shoulder dislocation, the Miami Heat will be missing out on the services of three players as a result of the scuffle that transpired during their recent clash against the New Orleans Pelicans. Jimmy Butler joins Nikola Jovic and Thomas Bryant on the list of Heat players who have been slapped with a suspension after their game against NOLA.
UPDATE: Jimmy Butler and Nikola Jovic have each been suspended one game by the NBA due to actions in Friday night’s game vs the Pelicans. They will serve those suspensions during tomorrow night’s game vs the Kings.
Thomas Bryant has been suspended 3 games, beginning tomorrow.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) February 25, 2024
After Kevin Love fouled Zion Williamson in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s matchup, Jimmy Butler locked horns with Nanji Marshall, who had confronted Love after the foul. The altercation between the two forwards gave rise to a massive scuffle. Hence, the league announced that Marshall and Butler would be suspended for one game each.
Therefore, Jimmy Butler will be out against the 33-23 Kings, who are currently 5th in the West. Miami will have their work cut out on Monday without their centerpiece on the roster.
Jimmy Butler doesn’t believe that he deserved to be ejected
Like Nanji Marshall, who came to Zion Williamson’s defense, Jimmy Butler was also merely standing up for his teammate. Hence, during the postgame conference, the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals MVP explained how he didn’t agree with the officials’ decision to toss him out of the game.
“He (Love) knew he shouldn’t have did that,” Butler said. “Then (Marshall) came and put his hands on K-Love, and that’s how it all escalated.”
Butler also took to Instagram, mocking the suspension. He photoshopped an image of himself and Nikola Jovic on the poster of the movie “Bad Boys”. Apart from selecting the location of the post as Miami-Dade County Jail, the two-way star blamed the Serbian for the suspension. The post was captioned:
It was all @nikolajovicc fault
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For the contest against the Sacramento Kings, in the absence of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo will have a lot of the team’s expectations riding on his shoulders. However, with the Kings coming off consecutive wins against the Nuggets, the Spurs, and the Clippers, Mike Brown’s boys will be the favorites to win the contest.
