Jimmy Butler Set To Return From 2nd Heat Suspension Of The Month

Jimmy Butler is back from suspension. Again.

Butler is expected to play for the Miami Heat against the Orlando Magic on Monday night, after completing his second suspension of the month. He was suspended for Miami's most recent two games after missing a team flight to Milwaukee last week.

Butler has missed 14 of Miami's last 19 games entering Monday, including nine of the last 12 because of the suspensions - the first a seven-game ban for conduct that the team deemed detrimental, followed by the two-game suspension.

Butler wants a trade, and Miami is trying to comply. But moving Butler and his 48.8 million salary this season is likely going to be more complicated that it would have been in past seasons, largely because of the league's aprons - salary levels installed as part of the new collective bargaining agreement that restrict the ways bigger-spending teams can make certain moves.

It has been a saga that has lasted now for nearly two months and figures to come to a head - one way or another - over the next week and a half. The NBA's trade deadline is Feb. 6, which means Monday could be one of the final times Butler plays a home game in Miami.