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ESPN and The Athletic reported that Butler
might have injured his medial collateral ligament.
Butler acknowledged after Miami's 105-104 loss that he was
headed for an MRI exam. He was injured when Philadelphia's Kelly
Oubre Jr. fell on him with 1.5 seconds to play in the first
quarter.
"I fell, he landed and my knee just didn't do well, I guess,"
Butler said. "I don't know. It's not a good feeling, I can tell
you that."
Butler got up from the collision and made 1 of 2 foul shots,
giving him seven points on 2-of-4 shooting in the opening
period. He stayed in the game but finished 5-for-18 from the
floor, scoring 19 points in 40 minutes.
"It felt like I couldn't do too much, which sucks with the
timing of the game and everything," Butler said. "I hope that
I'm fine. I hope that I wake up (Thursday) and can still stick
and move. Right now, I can't say that's the case."
After the loss at Philadelphia, the Heat head home to oppose the
Bulls -- one of Butler's former teams. The winner of the latter
contest will earn the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed and a date
with the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round of the
playoffs.
Butler, 34, averaged 20.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists
over 60 games in the just-concluded regular season. The six-time
All-Star has career averages of 18.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and
4.3 assists with the Bulls (2011-12 to 2016-17), the Minnesota
Timberwolves (2017-18 to 2018-19), the 76ers (2018-19) and the
Heat (2019-20 to present).
--Field Level Media
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