Report: Heat star Jimmy Butler feared to have MCL injury after play-in loss to 76ers

Jimmy Butler is perhaps sidelined indefinitely on account of a major knee harm.

The Miami Warmth star is feared to have sustained an MCL harm in his staff’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday within the play-in event, in line with The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Butler is ready to bear an MRI on Thursday to find out the severity of his harm. Whereas specifics will not be but identified, it may very simply sideline him indefinitely, which might knock him out of Friday’s win-or-go-home matchup towards the Chicago Bulls and doubtlessly rather more of the playoffs.

Butler went down onerous within the first quarter of the 105-104 loss whereas going up for a layup, and he was down on the court docket in apparent ache.

He didn’t exit the sport after his fall, nonetheless, and ended up enjoying 40 minutes and dropping 19 factors within the loss. Warmth coach Erik Spoelstra mentioned Butler’s knee “began to restrict him a bit of extra” as the sport went on.

“It had me feeling that I couldn’t do an excessive amount of,” Butler mentioned, via the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Ira Winderman.

Butler was limping fairly a bit as he walked off the court docket on the Wells Fargo Middle, and his limp appeared considerably worse when he left the sector altogether.

Butler averaged 20.8 factors, 5.3 rebounds and 5 assists per sport this season, his fifth with the Warmth. He shot simply 5-of-18 from the sector Wednesday. Tyler Herro led the Warmth with 25 factors and 9 assists within the loss, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 15 factors off the bench.

Joel Embiid led the 76ers with 23 factors and 15 rebounds of their win. Nicolas Batum added 20 factors, together with six 3-pointers, off the bench. The 76ers clinched the No. 7 seed within the Jap Convention playoffs, which units them up with a first-round sequence towards the New York Knicks.

Though Butler has not but been dominated out, he would not have a lot time to get well earlier than Miami’s subsequent sport. The Warmth will host the Bulls — who beat the Atlanta Hawks of their play-in event matchup Wednesday — on Friday on the Kesaya Middle in a must-win sport to assert the ultimate seed within the Jap Convention playoffs. A win would ship them right into a first-round sequence with the Boston Celtics.