Heat suspend Jimmy Butler for two more games

11:35 p.m.: The Heat released a statement (via Twitter) regarding Butler’s suspension: “We have suspended Jimmy Butler for two games for continued failure to comply with team rules, insubordinate conduct, and conduct detrimental to the team, including missing today’s team flight to Milwaukee.”

4:13 p.m.: THE Heat will suspend Jimmy Butler for their upcoming two-game road trip, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Charania reports that Butler missed a team flight Wednesday for tomorrow’s game at Milwaukee. He planned to fly separately and join his teammates tonight, but Heat officials told him to stay home. The suspension will also cover Saturday’s game in Brooklyn.

An “element of timing” was involved in Butler’s delay for the flight, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). The Heat canceled a practice and left for Milwaukee earlier than originally planned.

Butler just returned Friday from a seven-game suspension imposed before the start of the latest road trip. He appeared in three games, all at home, and received a mixed reaction from Miami fans.

The latest suspension comes as the Heat try to reach an agreement to remove Butler from their roster and avoid further escalating an already tense situation. He has been asking to be traded for several weeks and reportedly “tripled down” on that request in recent meetings with the president of basketball operations. Pat Riley and team owner Micky Arison.

The Suns appear to be the favorites to acquire Butler, and their prospects may have improved after landing three tradeable first-round picks in a deal with Utah on Tuesday. However, at least one additional team will need to get involved for Butler to end up in Phoenix, so it may take time to iron out the details.

The first suspension cost Butler approximately $2.35 million in lost salary, although the players’ union disputes that. The latest suspension will add more than $671,000 to that figure.