NBA: Jimmy Butler ‘working,’ but no timetable for Heat return

Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler, right, gets treatment on his right knee from the training staff during the first half of the team’s NBA basketball play-in tournament game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Philadelphia. The 76ers won 105-104. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

MIAMI — Jimmy Butler says he wants to play in the NBA playoffs, though there’s no timetable for his return from a sprained MCL.

The Miami Heat forward spoke to TNT during a first-quarter stoppage of his team’s Eastern Conference first-round game against the Boston Celtics on Saturday night, as he watched from the team’s bench area. Butler got hurt in the play-in round against Philadelphia and has missed all four Heat games since.

“I don’t know about a timeline, but we’ve been working,” Butler said during the televised interview. “I want to hoop. I want to get out here. I want some of this.”

READ: NBA: Celtics roll past Heat for 2-1 lead

The preliminary assessment on Butler was that he would miss multiple weeks because of the knee injury, which happened in the first quarter of the game at Philadelphia — before Butler played through it for the final three quarters of that game.

Butler has been getting treatment in the days since, but the team has not revealed any more specific timeframe about when he could play again.

READ: NBA: Heat’s Jimmy Butler out weeks with sprained knee ligament

Miami is playing this series without Butler and point guard Terry Rozier, who is sidelined with a neck injury. The Heat went to the NBA Finals last year as the eighth seed in the East, and Butler said the team’s confidence remains high even as a No. 8 seed taking on a Celtics team that finished the regular season with the NBA’s best record.

“I think we believe,” Butler said. “It’s everybody else that don’t.”