Miami Heat superstar forward Jimmy Butler has officially been diagnosed with a sprained MCL, an injury suffered in the first quarter of Wednesday’s play-in game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the team announced Thursday afternoon.
#CHIvsMIA INJURY UPDATE: Jimmy Butler (right MCL sprain) and Terry Rozier (neck) have both been ruled out of tomorrow night’s play-in game vs the Bulls.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 18, 2024
As a result, Butler is expected to miss multiple weeks, should the Heat win Friday against the Chicago Bulls and advance further into the postseason.
There were previous reports from Shams Charania of The Athletic regarding an MCL injury and from Heat insider Greg Sylvander of Five Reasons Sports that there was no swelling in Butler’s knee, “but MCL meniscus tear are suspected.”
An update on Jimmy Butler’s status
More on Jimmy’s status on our Off the Floor discord
🔗: https://t.co/XxPhJ3ALSb pic.twitter.com/CWTbqzHdpi
— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) April 18, 2024
Thankfully–for both Miami and Butler himself–neither muscle was fully torn and there isn’t need for potential surgery (that we know of right now), though the former could change as time goes on.
Even after Butler was injured, he stayed in the game and played 40 minutes, despite being noticeably compromised as the game wore on. He tallied 19 points on 5-of-18 shooting and 2-of-6 from the 3-point lane, adding four rebounds, five assists and a game-high five steals.
“I fell, he landed and my knee just didn’t do well, I guess,” Butler said after the game, according to ESPN. “I don’t know. It’s not a good feeling, I can tell you that.
“It felt like I couldn’t do too much, which sucks with the timing of the game and everything. 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.”
In ~30 minutes after Jimmy Butler sprained his MCL, he had…
🔥13 points
🔥3 rebounds
🔥3 assists
🔥3 stealsNumbers may not pop off the screen, but that is *hard* to do on one knee.
Really unfortunate that it had to end this way for him#HEATCulture pic.twitter.com/32Ljd7lQgw
— Matt Hanifan (@mph_824_) April 18, 2024
Butler’s effort post-injury was very admirable, even though it’s unclear how much worse the injury got by playing on it. Nevertheless, the Heat will be without their superstar forward for the foreseeable future and likely the remainder of the season if it doesn’t go on a deep playoff run.
First, they must take care of business tomorrow evening against the Chicago Bulls, who it went 2-2 against this season, in order to save their season. If not, the Heat will miss the playoffs for the first time since Butler’s arrival, an unfruitful end to an otherwise rocky season mired by … you guessed it … injuries.
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JUST SPITBALLIN FOR NEXT YEAR…DON’T YELL AT ME
Butler to Milwaukee for Middleton, Portis and Beauchamp.
Herro to Chicago for DeRozan (sign & trade)
Starters: Rozier, DeRozan, Middleton, Portis, Bam
Second Unit: JRich (player option), Duncan, Jaquez, Jovic, Love (player option)
Reserves: Beauchamp, Bryant, ORobinson,
G Leaguers: Cain, Swider, Williams
* Re-sign Highsmith and Wright if reasonable contracts.
I would do the herro trade, but that butler trade
…. hell no, that’s just terrible.
when your counting on guys like ty jjj jovic to win a playoff game maybe have a chance tonight.against boston lol.its been a nice run with jimmy appreciate him hes been our best player since d wade.but hes not d wade.dont know who would want an injury prone old player at big $$ if he would take a hometown discount and we can get donovan and brandon ingram jon collins lets give it a run.mediocrity suks.i love the heat but watching mediocre bball tough ask
Win or lose, I’m still a heat fan, but as a heat a fan….we gotta come to grips with the truth. Which is we need major changes next season.
bam terry hh jjj cain thats about it bro.
I would keep jovic too, he still only 20, and can still get better, and he’s our best shooter over 6’9.
Correct. And still on a rookie contract.
that attempted block by oubre wasnt that bad or dirty a young jimmy aint getting hurt
This educated assessment has been brought to you by newly designated orthopedic doctor Dr. HFL lolol!!
if we lose tonight which i think we will unfortunately.i hope this is ty and duncans last game with us.u cant have these type players on your team playing major minutes.look what happened when that defensive wall was built with hh delon jjj.phily was stuck on 39 for 15 real time minutes sorry ty n dunc i want my team to be a champ contender and with u guys your preventing that from happening.btw take the 10 dayers sorry ass with u to.go heat.looking forward to off season whos gonna be new heaters.gl to ty dunc and 10 dayer no hard feelings just get yo ass outta here your all millionaires anyway
I have to say some things I shouldn’t and now is the time. RC, Sun, and especially you, see something like what I do. But you are too much a gentleman to express it like me. There is a reason why no other team in the league, unless they are tanking, has our personnel mix. You can have Ty or Dunc, but you can’t have both, playing big minutes. Can’t have Love and Jovic in heavy rotation either, maybe one could be a back-up. Can’t have G leaguers either, with few exceptions, and their ceiling is never starter, just a rotational player.
Hey, there are plenty of teams that don’t look like us and stink, like the Nets, so it isn’t purely ethnicity. But no good team is composed like us. That is nothing but a statement of fact, and has been for forty years with rare exceptions (Celtics, in the 80s, and us the last few years even though we never took a ring, which is also a testament to what was Jimmy’s greatness).
I hope we go in a totally new direction after this year as Jimmy won’t be there to cover our flaws. I understand Pat drafting white players late first round as they are often undervalued and I think he hit on JJJ, still unsure on Jovic. Look, it’s a crapshoot drafting in the teens first round, and Precious was no better. But we need bigs that are two way players now. Time to get draft choices and rebuild. No whales are coming in to save us.
u need ballers that grew up in the playgrounds that dont take sht.tired of soft ass players aka ty dunc jovic.im keeping terry bam wright jjj hh cain orob the rest gotta go.dont know what pat has in mind but unless we get donovan we are going to be mediocre for a while.unless bam becomes embidish and the youngens hh cain are ballers.think jjj will be a bench type player and hh cain have more upside.really intrigued with cain think he has more upside than hh.go heat.
I agree about JJJ and HH. But, I think HH will just be a valuable seventh man type.
hh has the tools in the box just has to use them. think more offensive.that will happen next year w/o jim and ty
So what will the starting lineup look like?
Bam, Ty, Nico, HH, JJJ? I think Dunc will be activated. If Heat get pass Chicago I hope they take Boston to the distance.
bam love wright ty hh bench bryant jjj caleb
I’m still picking the Heat to beat Chicago.
Love you guys for being unflappable, for being strong to the end. I just can’t keep up with the charade any longer. As Ferris said, at the end of the movie, “its over, you can all go home now.”
dolphins season ruined by injuries heat season ditto please stay away from the panthers mr injury man
They are our strongest team, and very capable of winning a cup, but only, like you said, if healthy. Maybe we could meet on Los Olas. Or at War Memorial.
i play tennis right next to war memorial where panthers practice at jimmy evert tennis center every sunday morning at 8 so flas best chance for champ def panthers.dolphins with tua have no shot.heat w/o jimmy no shot immediate future.marlins might lose 110 games.
So…its less than 3% now. As Zech here said…why the heck not
Injury, injury, injury that dread X-factor this time of the year. Heal well Butler, you have to stay healthy to make a living.
not looking good for us…but hey. someone must show up and beat chicago right, so why the heck not
Win or lose, a few guys will rise to the occasion. I’m extra curious who that will be with Jimmy and Terry not playing. If they win that game, they’ll get beat by Boston. Nothing shocking there, but I do think it would be an invaluable experience for guys like Niko and JJJ. They will be on the team next year and haven’t tasted any playoff basketball. This Butler injury could rob them of that knowledge, so I’m really pulling for a miracle win so at least a little something positive can come out of this.
somebody has to score.we will reach 90-100 so if me u rc 30 played wed get some tyler shots up to