To say that Jimmy Butler's right knee has been problematic this season would be an understatement at this point. The Miami Heat talisman missed seven straight games with soreness on this same knee and he has been forced to sit out three more games since as the team manages the knee injury.
Butler has been tagged as probable for Monday night's game against the Los Angeles Clippers, but by his own admission, the 33-year-old recently revealed that his knee is far from a hundred percent:
“I still got some work to do, though. It’s not where it needs to be,” Butler said, via Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Butler has gotten used to it by now, though. He's been through a myriad of injuries throughout what has been a colorful career, and he knows what he needs to do to get himself back to full strength:
“We just got to maintain this thing and take care of it,” Butler said Monday. “I mean, it’s part of the game, but I want to be right, I want to be a hundred, so I can go out there and do what I’m supposed to do.”
It might be taking some time, but the important thing here is that Jimmy Butler's knee injury is healing properly. The six-time All-Star concedes that he will need to play through the pain in the immediate future, but at the same time, it's only going to be a matter of time before he gets to where he wants to be health-wise:
“It is,” Butler said about his recovery trending in the right direction. “Because I can go out there and compete. I can’t say that I’m fully healthy. But there are a lot of people that are not. So I think that’s good on a lot of levels.
“The more rest that I have and able to get that recovery that I need is always going to be better. So hell, whenever I’m not playing, I’m doing something to try to get it right.”
It then wouldn't be surprising to see Butler get the occasional night off here and there. The Heat have title aspirations this season and they will want Jimmy Butler to be ready and fully healthy when it matters the most.
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