Wheels in motion as Butler, Heat take flight? Countdown to NBA trade deadline getting real

MILWAUKEE – The Miami Heat’s deliberation about their relationship with Jimmy Butler has largely become cliche.

At the initial stages, when the six-time All-Star expressed his discontent and the Heat responded with a seven-game unpaid suspension, the talk was about how to get the genie back in the bottle.

From there, there was the subtext in questions to teammates about the elephant in the room.

Now, two weeks from the 3 p.m. Feb. 6 NBA trading deadline, it is as if the situation is being cast solely about semantics.

In the wake of Tuesday night’s home humiliation at the hands of the lottery-lusting Portland Trail Blazers, coach Erik Spoelstra was asked about the third largely lethargic performance by Butler in as many games since his return from suspension.

Arguably, time and place might not have been optimal to reopen, for lack of cliche avoidance, another can of worms.

“I know what you’re trying to get out of me,” Spoelstra said. “You’re not going to get anything worthwhile. This was not a very inspiring first three quarters by the whole group, so it’s tough to pinpoint one person.”

Except, it’s not.

Not amid a month-plus swirl that has had the Heat in a vortex of heading off on Wednesday for Thursday night’s nationally televised game against the Bucks at Fiserv Forum with a 21-21 record, in ninth place in the Eastern Conference.

Not when moments before Wednesday night’s tipoff it was learned that the Phoenix Suns, the team at the top of Butler’s trade wish list, and arguably his only desired landing spot, had swapped out a juicy future first-round pick for three lesser future first rounders – as in the type of collateral needed to make a multiteam deal work for Butler.

So, to recap:

– At the shootaround ahead of Tuesday night’s game, Heat captain Bam Adebayo was asked about ongoing distractions and responded with a goal of, “locking into the games, so we don’t have to necessarily deal with more outside noise than we already have.”

– Less than two hours before tipoff, when asked about reliable forward Haywood Highsmith being moved to a lesser role in the wake of Butler’s return, Spoelstra offered, “as we figure things out, his minutes will likely be more consistent.”

– Then, against the Blazers, a game the Heat trailed by as many as 27 points, Butler’s game speed, as recorded by the NBA’s tracking devices, measured third slowest among Heat players in action, behind only big men Adebayo and Kel’el Ware, with his speed on offense tracking slowest among the 10 Heat players who saw action.

Granted, Butler, at 35, long has played at a slow-and-steady gait. But at this stage you quantify what can be quantified.

After offering measured responses and multiple purposely placed “no comment” to questions after Friday night’s return from suspension in the loss to the Denver Nuggets, Butler has not been available for comment after the past two games, which has not necessarily been atypical during his 5 1/2 seasons with the team.

But at the moment, nothing is typical regarding Butler and the team, each moment parsed for possible implication, including Butler mostly remaining away from teammates during pregame introductions and while on the bench during timeouts.

The inspection only figures to increase, with the Bucks mentioned as a possible part of a multi-team wheel  in a Butler trade, with all eyes on the contract of Suns guard Bradley Beal as the linchpin for any deal.

Then it will be on to Brooklyn for the Heat for Saturday night’s conclusion of the two-game trip, the New York media to get the opportunity to potentially coax more from Butler.

All the while, the clock continues to tick toward the trading deadline and the question of whether this will become a seasonlong balancing act with a player perturbed about not being offered an extension, with the opportunity to further muddle by then picking up his $52.4 million player option for next season on his Heat contract.

For now, it’s as if Butler knew what was to follow when he last spoke, last Friday, “We’re playing a lot of ‘What ifs,’ ain’t we?”