Heat star Jimmy Butler really did it this time

Jimmy Butler, a player whose belief in himself is both his big strength and his Achilles’ heel, has been suspended for the third time this season.

The Miami swingman was slated to return from his most recent suspension Monday night against the Orlando Magic until he walked out of the Heat shootaround earlier in the day after reportedly being told that the team planned to start Haywood Highsmith instead of him.

Five hours later, the Heat released this statement: “The Miami Heat are suspending Jimmy Butler without pay effective immediately for an indefinite period to last no fewer than five games. 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.”

Butler had missed 14 of Miami’s last 19 games entering Monday, including nine of the last 12 because of the suspensions. The first was a seven-game ban for conduct that the team deemed detrimental, followed by a two-game suspension after he missed a team flight to Milwaukee last week.

The whole situation had to feel painfully familiar to Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who knows more than anyone Butler’s strengths and weaknesses.

It was Thibodeau who was coaching the Bulls when they selected Butler out of Marquette with the 30th pick in the 2011 draft. It was Thibodeau who traded for Butler after becoming the new coach and president of basketball operations of the Timberwolves, building around a player he believed could be the face of his new team. And it was Butler who paid him back by forcing his way out of Minnesota, leading to Thibodeau’s firing midway through the season after the Timberwolves had made their first playoff appearance in 14 years.

After their big breakup, Thibodeau and Butler eventually landed on their feet. Thibodeau was hired by the Knicks in 2020 and has helped build the team into a contender. Butler led Miami to within two wins of an NBA title in the bubble in 2020, but the relationship has deteriorated to the point that he is demanding a trade.

Thibodeau and Butler have always admired each other’s work ethic, and they made it clear when the Knicks and Heat met in the 2023 playoffs that they had patched things up.

What does Thibodeau think now as he watches Butler pull the same kind of stuff in Miami that he pulled with him six years ago in Minnesota?

“Yeah, I love Jimmy, but I’m not his coach,” Thibodeau said with what appeared to be a look of relief on his face before the Knicks’ game against Memphis on Monday night. “I have enough to worry about here.”

Actually, when it comes to player loyalty, Thibodeau doesn’t have all that much to worry about these days. That may be the greatest strength of this Knicks team, which entered Monday night in third place in the Eastern Conference at 30-16.

Following the lead of team captain Jalen Brunson — who happens to be the personification of the Thibodeau work ethic — the Knicks seem prepared to run through a wall for Thibodeau.

The starters don’t complain about playing obscene minutes. Rather, they seem to take pride in it. They don’t roll their eyes at the fact that Thibodeau will do almost anything to win the game at hand rather than look at the horizon beyond.

This is a team constructed to support a certain work ethic. It’s a team with a culture so defined that Karl-Anthony Towns, who unfairly or not sometimes was knocked as being soft in Minnesota, has been a physical beast for the Knicks and helped them get within two games of the Celtics heading into Monday.

Thibodeau has the support of management and players, which is something he never really could establish in Minnesota.

Butler’s problem is that he also is on a team with an established culture, a culture so strong that it’s going to bend only so far for a player, even a player with whom it has a rich history. Butler’s belief in himself is what made him a superstar. But it’s also what might blind him as to what his options are on a team for which Pat Riley still calls the shots.

It seems inevitable that Butler has played his last game for the Heat, that he will be somewhere else come the Feb. 6 trade deadline. Yet, the difference between this breakup and the one he had with Thibodeau is that, at age 35, there’s no guarantee that Butler will land on his feet this time.