Jimmy Butler is expected to play for Miami again Friday when it hosts the Denver Nuggets, a game that would be his first since the Heat confirmed that he wants a trade and that they are trying to accommodate that request.

After an alarming last-minute injury scratch from the lineup on Wednesday, Nikola Jokic was able to play with a sprained right elbow in Miami. It did not seem to bother him. He completed his 16th triple-double of the season late in the third quarter with one of his most delicious highlights of the year.

When the Miami Heat, his team for the past six seasons, slapped 14-year veteran forward Jimmy Butler with an unpaid, seven-game suspension on January 3, the team was somewhat cryptic about the reasons.