Heat meet Nets, hope for positive end to 2-game trip without Butler

While the Brooklyn Nets are honoring Vince Carter with a jersey retirement ceremony, the Miami Heat are dealing with acrimony involving a player who helped them to two NBA Finals appearances and may be close to departing the team.

Carter's jersey will be retired at halftime, but before that occurs, the Heat would like to sustain a good start and earn a win without Jimmy Butler Saturday night when they visit the Nets.

Butler has missed 18 games, including eight of the past 11 due to team-imposed suspensions for conduct detrimental to the club.

The first suspension occurred after Butler requested a trade and the Heat went 3-4 during his seven-game ban Jan. 4-15. The 35-year-old, who has been linked to the Phoenix Suns, then played in three games, including a 21-point win over the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, before being suspended for two more games.

Butler drew the latest suspension for missing Miami's flight to Milwaukee on Wednesday. Now, a tenure that was highlighted by Finals appearances in 2020 and 2023 may end before the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

Overall, the Heat are 8-12 in 20 games since winning four straight Dec. 4-12 and Butler has completed six of those contests. Miami's three most lopsided defeats have come since Butler's trade request became public.

The Heat are heading to Brooklyn after taking a 125-96 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, which occurred after coach Erik Spoelstra said he told his team to buckle up for life without Butler.

"The point that I made to our team is you get used to it," Spoelstra said at the morning shootaround. "Get over it. This is the NBA life. This is the life we chose."

Miami held a 15-point lead midway through the first quarter before getting outscored 120-76 the rest of the way in a game where it shot 37 percent and made 12 of its 51 3-point tries.

"That's the way this team is," Miami center Bam Adebayo said. "Really good and really bad. It's trying to figure out how we can collectively keep playing good."

Carter will become the seventh player in franchise history to get his jersey retired a little more than 20 years after he joined the Nets in December 2004. Carter averaged 23.6 points in a five-year tenure with the team when it was based in New Jersey before moving to Brooklyn in 2012.

"Everybody doesn't get the honor," Carter told the New York Post at a documentary screening on Thursday. "I just found out that only seven guys will be up there. This is rare air."

As for the current version of the Nets, they are among five teams with at least 30 losses after being swept in a home back-to-back against the New York Knicks and Suns, extending their home losing streak to nine.

The Nets took a 108-84 loss to the Suns on Wednesday, scored their second-fewest points of the season and were held below 100 points for the 13th time. Brooklyn is 6-20 without Cam Thomas (left hamstring strain) and 0-10 without Cameron Johnson (right ankle) this season.

Johnson will sit out for the ninth time in 12 games and coach Jordi Fernandez said he will be reevaluated next week. D'Angelo Russell could return after sitting out Wednesday to manage his hamstring injury.

--Field Level Media