Miami Heat suspend star forward Jimmy Butler for second time in three weeks

(CNN) — The Miami Heat have suspended forward Jimmy Butler for the second time in three weeks – this time for missing a team flight – the franchise announced on Wednesday.

“We have suspended Jimmy Butler for two games for continued pattern of disregard of team rules, insubordinate conduct and conduct detrimental to the team, including missing today’s team flight to Milwaukee,” the Heat said in a statement posted to X.

The Miami forward and six-time NBA All-Star had only just returned to the lineup on Friday following a seven-game suspension for “multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team over the course of the season and particularly the last several weeks.”

That suspension came after Butler intimated that he would like to be traded by the Heat, saying in a press conference: “I want to get my joy back.”

Along with announcing Butler’s initial suspension, the team said they would consider trade offers for the 14-year veteran.

Speaking after the Heat’s 128-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers on January 2, Butler was asked whether he will be able to find that joy in Miami.

“Probably not,” he replied.

Since the end of that first seven game suspension, he has played in each of the Heat’s last three games, and on Tuesday, he appeared to nod at trade rumors of a move to Phoenix, turning out for the team’s 116-107 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday in a pair of Suns-themed colorway shoes.

This, along with the latest suspension, appear to suggest that he still wants out of Miami before the trade deadline on February 6.

The Suns are at the top of Butler’s preferred destinations, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

“Jimmy’s number one focus is getting traded, preferably to the Phoenix Suns. Everything else is secondary,” Windhorst said on The Hoop Collective podcast on Monday.

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