Miami Heat's Jimmy Butler Reportedly Expected To Miss Multiple Weeks With Knee Injury
The Miami Heat are expected to play without star forward Jimmy Butler in Friday's elimination game against the Chicago Bulls in the Play-In Tournament.
Butler is expected to miss "multiple weeks" according to Shams Charania of The Athletic after sustaining a knee injury in Wednesday's loss to the Philadelphia. Citing multiple sources, Charania said Butler is likely dealing with an MCL injury.
Butler played through it but wasn't his usual self after the early awkward fall.
“It felt like I couldn't do too much, which sucks with the timing of the game and everything,” Butler said. “I hope that I'm fine. I hope that I wake up tomorrow and can still stick-and-move. Right now, I can't stay that's the case.”
Butler finished with 19 points on 5 of 18 shooting in 40 minutes. He underwent an MRI Thursday in Miami to determine his playing status against the Bulls.
"It really stiffened up on in the second half," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "As the second half went on, it started to limit him a little bit more ... We have no idea. We'll see when we get back to Miami."
After making the NBA Finals last year, the Heat now face the possibility of missing the postseason. Friday will be even tougher if Butler is unavailable.
“We will do this the hard way,” Spoelstra said. “That has to be the path right now. We're going to rest up, treat up, rally around each other up, get ready for Friday. Again, embrace these competitive games. It will be competitive in front of our home fans.”
