JIMMY BUTTLER'S SUSPENSION AND POSSIBLE TRADE: WHAT WE KNOW AND DON'T KNOW

Jimmy Butler's six-season tenure with the Miami Heat appears to be nearing its end. Butler, who led Miami to the NBA Finals in 2020 and 2023, was suspended by the team Friday for "conduct detrimental to the team," one day after indicating to the Heat that he would like to be traded.

Butler, who arrived at training camp this season with a declaration of "no shenanigans," had scored only 18 points combined in the past two games after sitting out the previous five because of an illness. ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Dec. 10 that the Heat were listening to offers on Butler and then on Dec. 25 that Butler preferred a trade out of Miami.

The situation escalated to a point that after Thursday's loss to the Indiana Pacers, Butler said he wanted to find his joy again on the court. When asked if he could do that in Miami, he answered "probably not."

ESPN insiders Tim Bontemps, Bobby Marks, Kevin Pelton and Brian Windhorst look at how the situation between the six-time All-Star and the franchise he has played for since 2019 got to this point, why a trade might not be as easy as it seems and what Butler could bring to a contender.

Butler's tactics to force Miami's hand and reverse its stance have appeared to work in the short term. The Heat didn't fully articulate all the components of what they felt was his "conduct detrimental" that led to the suspension, but Butler clearly wanted to be traded and took measures to get the Heat to come to the same conclusion. His lackluster play the past two games after sitting out five because an illness are probably on the list. In the short term, this play by Butler will cost him $2.35 million in salary but he could eventually win some or all of it back through a planned players' union grievance. -- Windhorst

How have Riley and the Heat handled similar situations in the past?

Riley has never been afraid to say no to star players or walk away from them when he doesn't want to pay them. Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane Wade all left to sign elsewhere at various points. He traded Shaquille O'Neal and Shawn Marion, among others, when he wanted to pivot the franchise. Now Butler will be on that list. Riley has always been able to acquire major talents, and that reputation has always emboldened him to play hardball. -- Windhorst

This isn't the first time Butler's tenure with a team has ended poorly. What happened in Chicago, Minnesota and Philadelphia?

Each of those situations were different. Chicago refused to give Butler a max contract and traded him to Minnesota for a package of young players and draft picks.

The Minnesota situation was very similar to this one: Butler was unhappy with his contract and requested a trade. But there was one massive difference: Butler had just turned 29, not 35. He eventually was sent to the 76ers for Dario Saric, Robert Covington, Jerryd Bayless and a second-round pick.

Then, after one season in Philadelphia, the 76ers essentially chose to pay a combination of Tobias Harris, Josh Richardson and Al Horford over Butler and sent him to Miami in a sign-and-trade during the summer of 2019. -- Bontemps

The Miami Heat suspended Jimmy Butler for seven games for "multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team." After scoring nine points in a loss to the Pacers on Thursday, Butler said he wanted "his joy back" and was unlikely to find it in Miami. Lynne Sladky/AP Photo

Can the 7-game suspension be extended? Have previous players been suspended this long for similar standoffs?

The suspension includes Saturday's home game against the Utah Jazz and the upcoming six-game trip. It's clear Riley is sending a message that he does not want Butler around the team right now. The unknown is what happens when the suspension ends ahead of Miami's Jan. 19 home game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Unless Butler is considered to violate the conduct detrimental policy in his contract from the time the suspension starts, Miami cannot extend the suspension to include more games. Because the suspension is by the team and not the NBA, the Heat will not receive luxury tax savings.

Butler is not the only player in the past three seasons to be suspended by his team. In November 2022, the Brooklyn Nets suspended guard Kyrie Irving eight games for being "unfit to be associated" with the team after the guard failed to say whether he held antisemitic beliefs. -- Marks

How much will Butler be fined and can a grievance be filed?

Butler is being fined $336,543 for each of the seven games missed. The amount equals 1/145 of his $48.8 million salary, totaling around $2.4 million. Butler has 30 days to file a grievance, and the amount fined will sit in an escrow account until the situation is resolved. The grievance process could take up to a year. The NBA Players Association issued a statement late Friday that the suspension was excessive and inappropriate.

Which teams could actually trade for him?

Butler asking to be traded and the Heat now listening to offers does not change the challenges of finding the former All-Star a new home. The combination of Butler's $48.8 million salary this season and nearly a third of teams not allowed to take back more salary in a trade makes any potential deal complicated.

Three out of the four teams on Butler's preferred list -- the Dallas Mavericks, the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns -- would need to trade a quarter of their roster. The Suns would need to have Bradley Beal waive his no-trade clause. Sources told ESPN, that the Heat have no desire to take back the $110 million owed to Beal and that Phoenix would need to find a third team. The Warriors and Mavericks probably would need to find a third or fourth team to reroute some of the contracts sent out.

The Heat also are not allowed to take back more salary because they are an apron team. -- Marks

Could Butler help a contender this season and in the future (if he were to re-sign with that team)?

That depends on how much Butler benefits from rediscovering the joy in basketball with another team. Butler's 17.6 scoring average is his lowest since 2013-14, the season before he won Most Improved Player and was voted an All-Star for the first time, but there's reason to believe Butler has more to give elsewhere.

Butler's 21% usage rate is down substantially from last season's 24%. At the same time, Butler is scoring more efficiently. His .648 true shooting percentage would be the best of his NBA career, narrowly ahead of 2023-24. And Butler's 58% 2-point shooting is easily a career high, suggesting his scoring downturn is more about being selective than an inability to create shots.

Not only do Butler's peripheral stats remain strong, we have ample evidence of "Playoff Jimmy" playing his best when the stakes are the highest. During Butler's four playoff runs in Miami -- before he sat out the Heat's 2024 first-round loss to the Boston Celtics because of an MCL sprain -- he led the NBA with 12.4 wins by my WARP (wins above replacement player) metric over that span.

During the regular season, Butler was just sixth in total WARP during the corresponding seasons. He produced 3.7 more WARP in the playoffs than we'd expect based on his regular-season performance. Only Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was a greater playoff overperformer than Butler from 2020 through 2023.

At some point, Butler's age (35) will undoubtedly take a toll, explaining Miami's reluctance to offer him a max extension. Over the next three seasons, my SCHOENE projection system forecasts Butler to decline by about three wins in terms of regular-season value based on the development of similar players at the same age. Though Butler's 2025-26 projection still puts him in the NBA's top 20 players, by 2027-28 that forecast drops to 45th. -- Kevin Pelton

What kind of extension is Butler looking for? What's the most likely outcome ahead of the trade deadline?

Because of the league's Over-38 rule, the maximum extension Miami could sign Butler is for two years, $112.6 million. That would replace his $52.4 million player option for next season with a new salary starting at $54.1 million. The second year would pay Butler $58.5 million when he is 37.

If Butler were traded, he would be eligible to sign a two-year, $111 million extension with his new team.

A trade demand by Butler and now suspension does not mean the Heat are mandated to make a trade. If Miami does not receive an offer of its liking, it can either let Butler walk in free agency if he declines his player option -- or work together on a trade.

Butler, who will turn 36 in September, does not fit the roster timeline of the Brooklyn Nets, the only team that projects to have more than $40 million in cap space. -- Marks

Are we sure he'll be traded at all?

No. The way things played out with Paul George last season with the LA Clippers is a blueprint for how this situation could unwind over the next few months.

The longstanding paradigm in the NBA in these situations is that the team with a disgruntled player like Butler "has to get something" and trade him somewhere. But that was in a previous financial reality in which the league existed.

Under this far more restrictive collective bargaining agreement, the NBA is operating in what is much closer to a hard cap environment than it used to. So if the process of getting something in a deal requires a team to take back negative long-term salary, that can cause real problems for a club trying to pivot past such a deal in the future. That's doubly true for the Heat, who remain one of the league's most desirable destinations for players and want to have as much flexibility to acquire more high-end talent in the future.

That's one of several reasons why the Heat, according to sources, are reluctant to take back long-term money in a Butler trade. Coupled with the trade restrictions that have made it hard for any big salaries to be moved across the league, sources are far from convinced a deal is guaranteed to happen in the next month. -- Bontemps

- ESPN 

BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS FROM GAME 2 BETWEEN DALLAS AND MINNESOTA

USA TODAY Sports 

 A late one-point victory in a tight Western Conference finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves shouldn't come as a surprise. The Mavericks escaping Minnesota up 2-0 is another story.

Dallas rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to take Game 2 109-108 behind a brilliant step-back 3-pointer from Luka Doncic over center Rudy Gobert with three seconds remaining that silenced the home crowd. The Timberwolves had one final possession, but Naz Reid's 26-footer missed, and now the Mavericks will travel back to Dallas with a commanding series lead.

"I can't move fast, but I can move faster than him," Doncic said of his shot over Gobert during his postgame interview on TNT.

With his winning 3 over the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Doncic finished with a game-high 32 points with 10 rebounds and 13 assists to record his eighth career playoff triple-double.

The Mavericks trailed by as many as 16 points in the third quarter, but they methodically cut into Minnesota's lead behind Doncic's playmaking and clutch shooting from guard Kyrie Irving, who went 4-for-7 from 3 in the game.

Reid led the Wolves with 23 points as Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns once again struggled; the duo combined to shoot 9-for-33.

Dallas heads home with the chance to close out the series and reach the NBA Finals -- despite outscoring Minnesota by just four points over the first two games. The Timberwolves' comeback attempt will begin Sunday in Game 3.

Our NBA insiders break down Doncic's clutch shot, the Timberwolves' chances at getting back into the series and the biggest takeaway from a memorable Game 2.

1. Luka's step-back winning 3 over Gobert was ______.

Ramona Shelburne: Legacy-making, for both him and Gobert. As much as it was an incredible clutch shot by Doncic, it was also ammunition for all the Gobert detractors (See: Green, Draymond) who point out that the Defensive Player of the Year can be a liability when he switches onto a perimeter player. Of course, you can also question the defensive strategy of switching everything with Gobert on the floor. Instead, the Wolves watched Doncic put Gobert on skates for the win.

Andrew Lopez: Excellent, yet expected. Watching Doncic in clutch situations, it's starting to get to the point where you expect him to make tough shots no matter what and no matter who is standing in front of him. It's incredible to think he just turned 25 in February by the way carries himself in pressure moments. As soon as he got the switch, you felt the shot was going in even though he had missed his two other attempts in the fourth quarter.

Brian Windhorst: Let's use Doncic's own words on the court after his game winner: "You can't f---ing guard me." In that moment, it was the slower-footed Gobert against the expert footwork of Doncic. As TNT's Shaquille O'Neal would say, "Barbecue chicken."

2. What is your biggest takeaway from Game 2?

Shelburne: The Mavericks weren't perfect in this game, but for the second game in a row they showed much more poise than the Timberwolves when it mattered. Minnesota should probably just flush the tape of its critical turnovers down the stretch. People are going to point to the poor shooting performances by Wolves stars Edwards and Towns, but Reid and Mike Conley did enough to pick up the slack for Minnesota to win the game if it hadn't had so many unforced errors.

Lopez: As much as Doncic seemingly struggled to get going until late in the fourth quarter because of his various injuries, the Mavericks were able to pull this out because of the play of Irving. Doncic is clearly not 100 -- left ankle soreness and right knee sprain are among his ailments -- despite coming through with the game winner. But when Doncic rested, Irving stepped up. After just seven points in the first three quarters, Irving had 13 in the fourth quarter with four 3s, including with 1:05 to go to cut the Wolves' lead to two.

Windhorst: Edwards is going through a tough patch at the worst time. His unforced turnover with 12.8 seconds left was a crucial mistake. But he's really mired in a slump, shooting just 30-of-90 over the past five games. Unlike Game 1, when he settled for 3-pointers, he attacked the basket and forced the action Friday. But as one of the best finishers in the league, 70% in the restricted area during the regular season, Edwards was ineffective going up against Dallas' size.

3 . The Wolves' trailing 0-2 for the first time these playoffs is ____.

Shelburne: What it looks like when a young team experiences growing pains in real time. As disappointing as these two games were for the Wolves, I'm not ready to write them off. Not after they won Games 6 and 7 against the defending champion Denver Nuggets following three straight losses in the last round. Edwards has struggled in this series. I think the demands of defending Irving in addition to the energy Minnesota needs from him offensively are wearing on him. He even needed oxygen in the fourth quarter of Game 2, but I've seen enough from Edwards this season to know he will never lack confidence or energy when his team needs him.

Lopez: Heartbreaking. It looked as if Reid was going to save the day after he hit seven 3s and was carrying Minnesota in the second half, but he couldn't get his eighth triple to fall as time expired. Towns and Edwards combined to go 9-of-33 in a one-possession game at home. This was after going 12-of-36 in a one-possession game at home in Game 1. Both games have been there for the taking. Minnesota has bounced back from the brink before, but to do so again, both players will have to take big steps in Games 3 and 4 in Dallas.

Windhorst: Regret. That's what the Wolves were feeling in their locker room after the game. Ant for the turnover. Gobert for not getting the final stop. Coach Chris Finch for not using one of his two remaining timeouts. Towns for not having a better game. Two one-possession losses, lots of agony.

- NBA Insiders

BRIAN WINDHORST ON VICTOR WEMBANYAMA (VIA GET UP)