Jimmy Butler has not had the best of seasons thus far with the Miami Heat. The five-time All-Star has been in and out of the lineup throughout the campaign due to a handful of injuries that have now cost him no less than 18 missed contests out of Miami's 44 games played his season.

As it turns out, however, most of Butler's heat teammates haven't exactly been longing for his return to the court. As a matter of fact, veteran big man Dewayne Dedmon has been quite vocal about not needing Butler to come back (h/t Brendan Tobin on Twitter):

“One of our teammates they would always say something along the lines of ‘We don't need you. We're winning without you.' Stuff like that,” Butler revealed. “Specially Dewayne. He's an honest guy.”

Dedmon was obviously kidding with his jab towards Butler, but true enough, the Heat have managed to win ballgames even without Butler — and even Bam Adebayo — in the picture.

Butler went on to praise his teammates and their “next man up mentality” as they continue to find success in spite of the myriad of injuries this team has dealt with. The Heat talisman also opened up about the dilemma of other players losing playing time whenever players like himself are able to return to action:

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“Like I said we got guys that can hoop, that can go,” Butler continued. “And it really sucks because when guys come back, as confident as some guys are, like (Omer Yurtseven) didn't play tonight. Yeah, he dserves to, it's just it's hard. There's not enough minutes to go around, but his chance will come again.”

Butler raises a truly valid concern here. He singled out rookie Omer Yurtseven as a stand-out for a shorthanded Miami side. After a string of highly impressive performances, the 23-year-old center wasn't even able to get off the bench on Monday as the Heat took down the Toronto Raptors, 104-99. As Butler said, however, Yurtseven's chance will come again — as is the case for the other fringe players on Miami's rotation. It's just all about staying prepared for when the opportunity arises.