Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler spoke out for the first time since he suffered a toe injury.
“It’s getting better,” Butler said. “I’m moving a little bit better. Still have a couple more days obviously so we can get tolerable pain in it and I’ll be ready to go.”
Butler said he’s unsure if his toe injury is related to the calf injury he suffered last month as well.
“I don’t know,” Butler said. ‘The trainers may think so. I don’t believe in luck all the time. Stuff happens. We’re doing everything we can to get me back on the floor. I’m moving better. I can break a little sweat.”
In Butler’s most recent appearance for the Heat against the Jazz on Dec. 30, he ended up with eight points, two rebounds, one assist and one block while shooting 2-of-3 from the floor.
The Heat went on to lose that game against Utah by a final score of 117-109 behind a solid showing from Jazz guard Collin Sexton, who scored a team-high 22 points to go along with two rebounds, five assists and one steal in 26 minutes of playing time.
Butler is in his 13th NBA season and fifth with the Heat franchise. He has played in 24 of the Heat’s 36 games so far during the 2023-24 regular season and is averaging 21.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 46.4 percent from the floor and 37.7 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Miami has managed to keep pace in the Eastern Conference standings with arguably the team’s most talented player out of the lineup in Butler. The Heat are tied with the Orlando Magic for the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference at 21-15 and own a 6-4 record over their past 10 games.
The Heat picked up an impressive win over the Houston Rockets at home on Monday. Miami star big man Bam Adebayo put together an impressive two-way performance in the team’s seven-point victory, seeing as how he totaled 22 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and one steal while shooting 9-of-12 from the field across 32 minutes of action.
But Tyler Herro finished as the team’s leading scorer against Houston with 28 points and also contributed three rebounds and three assists.
The next game on the Heat’s regular-season schedule is a home game versus the Oklahoma City Thunder — who own the second-best record in the Western Conference — on Wednesday. The Thunder own an impressive 7-3 record over their past 10 games and snapped their two-game losing streak with a win over the Washington Wizards on Monday.
