Can Miami Heat afford regular Jimmy Butler absences?

Q: Jimmy Butler resting already? What a joke. I should go to work on Monday and Tuesday and tell my boss I need to rest the remainder of the week and see how that goes. – Evens.

A: To not even list an injury does come off as the height of hubris. Of course, so does the NBA scheduling a back-to-back set that goes from Boston to Minnesota. (Geography 101, people?) Plus, the NBA’s new rules for this season essentially mandated that Butler appear Friday night against the Celtics because of the national telecast on ESPN. The upshot is that the NBA has made it clear that nationally televised games are the priority, and that for everything else it is caveat emptor to the ticket-paying public. And now that goes, as well, for those who pay for streaming services that essentially also come at a cost-per-game basis. But let’s also be fair, Jimmy certainly earned a few hall passes with his playoff performance last spring. So you just acknowledge it as part of the Buckets package.