The war between Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat organization now appears to be affecting teammates as well.
On the latest episode of the popular “Road Trippin'” podcast, retired former NBA big man Channing Frye shared some troubling information about the incident that led to Butler’s latest suspension by the Heat. Frye said Butler supposedly held up the entire team plane for hours because he didn’t show up for an away-game flight and went radio-silent when asked about his whereabouts.
“Sources say … Jimmy held up the whole plane because he didn’t want to communicate,” said Frye. “From what I heard, the team was waiting for him for a couple of hours on the tarmac. And they were like, ‘Where is this guy?’ And he [eventually] was like, “Oh, I’ll meet you there.”
Frye did not specifically mention during the podcast who he heard the info from. But it is probably worth noting that he is close friends with Heat big man Kevin Love, his former teammate on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Earlier this week, the Heat suspended Butler for another two games (with reports at the time saying that he had missed the team flight to Milwaukee for a game against the Bucks on Thursday). This came after Miami had already suspended Butler for seven games due to detrimental conduct.
The six-time All-Star Butler, who can become a free agent this offseason, wants out of Miami and is clearly willing to make things extremely ugly to force his way out. Butler is eligible to return from his latest suspension on Monday against Orlando. But the situation is getting increasingly untenable, and the Heat at least appear to be making some progress towards a potential trade that would finally end this whole messy saga.
H/T NBA Reddit
