Jimmy Butler suspended for the 3rd time this month by the Miami Heat as trade deadline looms

MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler was back from suspension. Again.

And then Butler got suspended by the Miami Heat. Again.

Butler has been suspended for the third time this month by the Heat, this one starting basically just as the second one was ending. The team said Butler left Monday's morning shootaround practice early, in advance of a game against the Orlando Magic — something the team called “intentionally withholding services.” The suspension is without pay and indefinite for now, with the team saying it will last at least five games.

Butler was expected to come back from his second suspension on Monday — only to be suspended for a third time. Butler, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, was told during the shootaround that he was not going to be back in the starting lineup for that night's game against Orlando. He left the shootaround not long afterward, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team did not release that detail publicly.

“The Miami Heat are suspending Jimmy Butler without pay effective immediately for an indefinite period to last no fewer than five games,” read the team statement. “The suspension is due to a continued pattern of disregard of team rules, engaging in conduct detrimental to the team and intentionally withholding services. This includes walking out of practice earlier today.”

Without Butler, the Heat rallied from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter and beat Orlando 125-119 in double overtime.

“What it means right now is just we proved to ourselves that we have a tremendous amount of grit," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "You know, and you gain confidence from that.”

Butler was suspended for Miami's most recent two games after missing a team flight to Milwaukee last week. He has now missed 15 of Miami's last 20 games, including 10 of the last 13 because of the suspensions — the first a seven-game ban for conduct that the team deemed detrimental, followed by the two-game suspension, and now the indefinite one.

Butler’s role going forward — starter or non-starter — was in some question even before the latest suspension was announced. Butler hasn’t come off the bench in a game since Jan. 27, 2017, exactly eight years ago Monday in a game against Miami when he and then-Chicago teammate Dwyane Wade criticized how the Bulls were playing.

Including playoffs, Butler has started in each of his last 560 appearances.

“It kind of feels normal now at this point," Heat guard Tyler Herro said at the morning shootaround when asked what it's like to have Butler available again after a suspension — those words coming a few hours before the latest suspension was announced. “Kind of is what it is, but nothing’s guaranteed. We’ve just got to be ready to roll with whatever cards we’re dealt tonight. We’ve just got to be ready to go.”

Butler wants a trade, and Miami is trying to comply. But moving Butler and his $48.8 million salary this season is likely going to be more complicated that it would have been in past seasons, largely because of the league's aprons — salary levels installed as part of the new collective bargaining agreement that restrict the ways bigger-spending teams can make certain moves.

It has been a saga that has lasted now for nearly two months and figures to come to a head — one way or another — over the next week and a half. The NBA’s trade deadline is Feb. 6. After Monday, there are only five games left for Miami before the deadline, raising the possibility that Butler will not play for the team again.

“We didn’t talk about anything today other than preparing for the Magic. ... We're just focusing on the task at hand,” Spoelstra said. "There’s no better place to be than just the present moment.”

The Heat next play at home on Wednesday against Cleveland. After that, they leave for a four-game trip to San Antonio, Chicago, Philadelphia and Brooklyn — that Nets game getting played on Feb. 7, one day after the deadline.

“For me, this shows that through all the noise and all the chaos, we can still win," Heat captain Bam Adebayo said after Monday's win. "We still can come together and be a great team.”

Butler has said repeatedly throughout this process that he still loves Miami, in the off-the-court sense.

“I love this city with everything that I have,” he said this weekend while appearing at a padel tournament that he co-chaired.

The issue, for him, is with the team. Butler became eligible last summer for a two-year, $113 million extension that the Heat have not offered him. Heat president Pat Riley said after last season that the team had reservations about such a deal since Butler has missed about one of every four Miami games since he joined the team.

Butler entered the season saying he was not upset about the extension not getting done. It appears that stance changed in recent weeks, and the team announced earlier this month that Butler asked for a trade — something he cannot do publicly by league rule.

Butler is averaging 17 points this season. He had one of the best statistical games in Heat history against Detroit on Dec. 16 — 35 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists.

In six appearances entering Monday since then, including one in which he departed in the first quarter with an illness, Butler is averaging 9.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists. He has also lost at least $3 million in salary — and counting, since this latest suspension is also without pay — since then because of the suspensions. The National Basketball Players Association has said it plans to appeal the first suspension, which means Butler could get some money back.

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Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler walks on the court after an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

FILE - Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) stands on the court during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran and the United States held a fourth round of negotiations Sunday over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, just ahead of a visit by President Donald Trump to the Middle East this week.

The talks ran for some three hours in Muscat, the capital of Oman, which has been mediating the negotiations, said a U.S. official. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei also said the talks took place that long and that a decision on the next round of talks is under discussion.

Baghaei called the talks “difficult but useful.” The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, offered a little bit more, describing them as being both indirect and direct.

“Agreement was reached to move forward with the talks to continue working through technical elements,” the U.S. official said. “We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future.”

Iran insisted they only took place indirectly — possibly over internal political pressures within the Islamic Republic.

The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic, closing in on half a century of enmity.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Meanwhile, Israel has threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities on their own if it feels threatened, further complicating tensions in the Mideast already spiked by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Iranian state television announced the talks had begun. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. side.

The talks again saw Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff lead the negotiations. They have met and spoken face-to-face in the talks, but the majority of the negotiations appear to have been indirect, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi shuttling messages between the two sides.

Iran has insisted that keeping its ability to enrich uranium is a red line for its theocracy. Witkoff also has muddied the issue by first suggesting in a television interview that Iran could enrich uranium at 3.67%, then later saying that all enrichment must stop.

“An enrichment program can never exist in the state of Iran ever again,” Witkoff told the right-wing Breitbart news site in a piece published Friday. “That’s our red line. No enrichment. That means dismantlement, it means no weaponization, and it means that Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan — those are their three enrichment facilities — have to be dismantled.”

Araghchi, however, warned again that enrichment remains a red line for Iran.

“This is a right of the Iranian people that is not up for negotiation or compromise. Enrichment is one of the achievements and honors of the Iranian nation,” Araghchi said Sunday before leaving Tehran. “A heavy price has been paid for this enrichment. The blood of our nuclear scientists has been shed for it. This is absolutely non-negotiable. That has been our clear stance that we have always voiced.”

Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers capped Tehran’s enrichment at 3.67% and reduced its uranium stockpile to 300 kilograms (661 pounds). That level is enough for nuclear power plants, but far below weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Since the nuclear deal’s collapse in 2018 with Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the U.S. from the accord, Iran has abandoned all limits on its program and enriched uranium to up to 60% purity — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels. There have also been a series of attacks at sea and on land in recent years, stemming from the tensions even before the Israel-Hamas war began.

Iran also faces challenges at home, exacerbated by sanctions. Its troubled rial currency, once over 1 million to $1, has strengthened dramatically due to the talks alone to around 830,000 to $1.

However, the two sides still appear a long way from any deal, even as time ticks away. Iranian media broadly reported a two-month deadline imposed by Trump in his initial letter sent to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump said he wrote the letter on March 5, which made it to Iran via an Emirati diplomat on March 12 — putting the deadline in theory as Monday when Trump takes off from Washington for his trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Iran’s internal politics are still inflamed over the mandatory hijab, or headscarf, with women still ignoring the law on the streets of Tehran. Rumors also persist over the government potentially increasing the cost of subsidized gasoline in the country, which has sparked nationwide protests in the past.

Meanwhile, the last round of talks in Oman on April 26 took place as an explosion rocked a southern Iranian port, killing dozens of people and injuring over 1,000 others. Iran still hasn’t explained what caused the blast at the Shahid Rajaei port, which has been linked to a shipment of missile fuel components to the Islamic Republic.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

FILE - This combo shows Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, pictured in Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 25, 2025 and Steve Witkoff, right, White House special envoy, pictured in Washington, on March 19, 2025. (AP Photos Stringer, Mark Schiefelbein)

Steve Witkoff is sworn as special envoy by Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House with President Donald Trump, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)