[Chiang and Jackson] Heat wants to acquire a quality player (or players) who can help the team this season...According to a source close to the situation, Butler will be expected to rejoin the Heat and play in games if he’s still on the roster at the end of his team-issued seven-game suspension.

The Heat has had discussions with several teams in recent days regarding a potential Butler trade, according to a league source. But as of Tuesday afternoon, the Heat has not been presented with a trade offer for Butler that is being strongly considered.

In any Butler trade, the Heat wants to acquire a quality player (or players) who can help the team this season. That will be the top priority for Miami.

But the Heat also doesn’t want to take back long-term salary that’s going to clog its salary cap for the 2026 offseason, unless it’s for top-end All-Star talent. Draft capital is also important for the Heat, as it currently only has one unprotected first-round pick that it can deal away.

Butler will serve the third game of his team-issued seven-game suspension when the Heat takes on the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco on Tuesday night. The extension runs through the end of the Heat’s current six-game West Coast trip and he’ll be eligible to come back when the Heat returns to Miami to host the Denver Nuggets on Jan. 17.

According to a source close to the situation, Butler will be expected to rejoin the Heat and play in games if he’s still on the roster at the end of his team-issued seven-game suspension. As of now, the Heat is not interested in having Butler remain away from the team while paying him the remainder of his $48.8 million salary for this season after his suspension is over.

Even if Butler returns to the Heat after his suspension, the Heat will likely continue to listen to trade offers for him up until the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

The Heat announced Butler’s suspension Friday through a press release that said: “We have suspended Jimmy Butler for seven games for multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team over the course of the season and particularly the last several weeks. Through his actions and statements, he has shown he no longer wants to be part of this team.

“Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they wish to be traded, therefore, we will listen to offers.”

The Phoenix Suns appear to be the team pushing hardest to trade for Butler, according to league sources, but the complication is that Suns guard Bradley Beal would very likely need to be involved in that deal to make the salary-cap math work. The Heat is not interested in acquiring Beal’s no-trade clause, meaning the Suns need to find a third team to take Beal, and Beal would also need to approve of being dealt to that team while the Heat also gets assets in return that it’s interested in as part of the trade.

“If so, I need to be addressed because I hold the cards,” Beal told reporters on Monday night when asked whether his recent move to a bench role has anything to do with the swirling trade rumors, referring to the no-trade clause in his contract. “Until I’m addressed and somebody says something different, then I’ll be a Sun.”

While the Heat is on the West Coast for its six-game trip, Butler is able to work out and use the Heat’s facilities at Kaseya Center even while suspended. Heat assistant coach Octavio De La Grana, player development coach Remy Ndiaye and assistant athletic trainer Armando Rivas did not travel with the team in order to be available to work with Butler in Miami during his suspension.

Butler posted photos and videos on his Instagram account on Monday night of a workout conducted in the Heat’s weight room at Kaseya Center.

According to multiple sources, Butler has been disappointed with the Heat primarily because Miami declined to give him a two-year, $113 million contract extension this past summer, a deal that would have run through the 2026-27 season. Butler was open to signing such a deal early in the negotiating window, but his mind-set changed when the extension wasn’t immediately offered by the Heat.

Source: https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article298117768.html