The Miami Heat faced a heartbreaking 105-104 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, meaning that they will have to play a win-or-go-home play-in game against the Chicago Bulls on Friday night. To make matters worse, the Heat may have to play this game without Jimmy Butler due to a knee injury the star forward suffered.
Butler was injured on the final play of the first quarter when Sixers swingman Kelly Oubre Jr. skyed through the air in an attempt to block the shot. Oubre made contact with Butler, who landed awkwardly and immediately grabbed his right knee. Although he remained in the game, Butler left the arena with a heavy limp, and has since been said to have suffered a right MCL injury that will sideline him for multiple weeks.
At this time, there are a lot of unknowns surrounding the Heat's immediate future, as well as clarity on what Butler's injury actually is. He is not scheduled to undergo an MRI until Thursday afternoon, and Bernie Lee, Butler's agent, is refuting reports suggesting that people know about his client's injury.
“We don't see the doctor until later this afternoon. As you guys know, locker rooms are a busy place. People can think about something or speculate about something, but nobody really knows. We are going to see the doctor later today,” Lee told Frank Isola and Brian Scalabrine on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “It just blows my mind that somebody, who wasn't in the arena, has somehow come up with a medical timeline of something literally four of us: one is the person who got hurt, and me, the person who has conversations with everything and has everything go through.
“Like, we don't even know. And now we’re having to live in somebody else’s created reality. I was in Philadelphia last night and literally just landed in Miami. What do you know that I don't know? I'm amazed by it, to be totally honest.”
Latest on Jimmy Butler's knee injury
There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding Butler and his status for the Heat's do-or-die play-in game on Friday night against the Bulls in South Beach. Butler, who remained in Wednesday night's game after suffering what appeared to be a pretty serious knee injury, played a total of 40 minutes. Although he did not look like himself at times, the star wing still finished the game with 19 points, five assists, and five steals, putting Miami in a position where they could have stolen this game on the road.
Whether or not Butler will miss the Heat's final play-in game and possibly time in the playoffs depends solely on the results of his MRI, which will be done on Thursday afternoon. Until the imagining is done and confirms any injury, it is truly hard to put a definitive timeline on when Butler will be able to play.
Due to reports surfacing suggesting that Butler has an injury to his MCL, it is safe to assume that the Heat's medical staff have concluded that this is the issue at hand. Anything is possible, and perhaps his MRI results will come back clean, but things are not looking good for the six-time All-Star regarding his immediate status.
The Heat will provide a clear update on Butler's status once they get the results of his knee scan.
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