Miami Heat Vs. Chicago Bulls Injury Report: Jimmy Butler Ruled Out Friday's Play-In Game

Shandel Richardson | Apr 18, 2024

Apr 17, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) drives against the Philadelphia 76ers - Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

After a full day of waiting, the Miami Heat received their answer on the playing status of All-Star forward Jimmy Butler.

Butler will miss Friday's game against the Chicago Bulls in the Play-In Tournament. An MRI revealed Butler sustained an MCL sprain in the first quarter of Wednesday's game versus the Philadelphia. According to the Heat, he will miss a couple of weeks if the Heat should win and advance to play the Boston Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Here's the full injury report:

HEAT

Josh Richardson: Out - Right Shoulder Surgery 

Jimmy Butler: Out - Knee

Duncan Robinson: Probable - Left Facet Syndrome 

Terry Rozier: Doubtful - Neck Spasm

BULLS

Lonzo Ball: Out - Knee

Onuralp Bitim: Out - Retinal detatchment

Alex Caruso: Questionable - Ankle

Ayo Dosunmu: Questionable - Quad

Andre Drummond: Questionable - Ankle

Zach LaVine: Out - Foot

Julian Phillips: Out - Foot

Patrick Williams: Out - Foot

Here's the game preview:

Time: 7 p.m.

Where: Kaseya Center, Miami

TV: ESPN

Betting line: Heat -1.5

Vitals: : The Heat and Bulls met four times this regular season with the teams splitting the series, 2-2. The Heat are 64-65 all-time versus
the Bulls during the regular season, including 37-28 in home games and 27-37 in road games. This marks the second time the Heat and Bulls will
meet in a Play-In game after Miami recorded a, 102-91, win last season to secure the eighth seed on their way to winning the Eastern Conference
and an NBA Finals appearance. The Bulls are coming off a victory against the Atlanta Hawks in the other Play-In Game. Coby White had 42 points, marking the second-most points scored by any player in Play-In Tournament history behind Jayson Tatum's 50 points.

PROJECTED STARTERS

HEAT

G Caleb Martin

G Tyler Herro

C Bam Adebayo

F Jaime Jaquez

F Nikola Jovic

BULLS

F DeMar DeRozan

F Alex Caruso

C Nikola Vucevic

G Ayo Dosunmu

G Coby Wright

QUOTABLE: Heat center Bam Adebayo on facing an elimination game with the possibility of playing without Jimmy Butler: "I feel like when we play the right way and do the right things, we're hard to beat. We can compete with anybody as we've shown in the past and we'll show it."