Brandon Miller underwent surgery on Thursday to repair a torn scapholunate ligament in his right wrist. The surgery was performed by Dr. Michelle Carlson at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Miller will miss the remainder of the season and updates on his status will be provided as appropriate.
Miller recorded 21.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals in 27 outings this season, and he connected on 3.9 3-pointers per game, the fifth-most in the NBA. He has appeared in 101 games (95 starts) across two NBA seasons and holds career averages of 18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
Miller was named to the All-Rookie First Team last season, in addition to earning three Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors and a spot in the Rising Stars event at All-Star Weekend.
The Jimmy Butler situation with the Miami Heat took another acrimonious turn when they suspended him for two games after he missed a team flight. Butler had planned to fly privately and join the Heat in Milwaukee, something he has done at various times in the past.
“This has turned into, really, an ugly, bitter, any word you want to use, end, a divorce to a relationship that overall has been pretty successful,” said Shams Charania. “You think about the last five years for Jimmy Butler: three appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals, two of which were NBA Finals runs and right now this is a situation where the Heat are putting their foot down on a lot of the stuff…
“Jimmy Butler has traveled separately away from the team in the past before at times and he was planning to do the same thing yesterday, joining the team in Milwaukee last night instead of going on the team flight. So he tells the team that he’s going to fly separately on a on private charter and he will join the team of Milwaukee, but before he even got a chance to do so, I’m told, the Heat called him and informed him to stay home. That they don’t want him there and they were suspending him for two games on this quick two game road trip that they have. And they’ll play again in Miami next week. But where the situation is at is it’s untenable.”
The Heat have discussed various trades involving Butler, but no deal appears imminent at this point.
“Both sides have the same goals,” added Charania. “But how do you get there? And getting to the asking price.”
Butler would like a trade to the Phoenix Suns, but that will require multiple teams to facilitate.
Adam Silver met with the media ahead of the NBA Paris Games 2025. As expected, he got questions about the NBA’s interest in expanding to Europe. Silver confirmed the NBA has interest in creating a European league, but that it wouldn’t be as an expansion of the NBA itself.
“We might eventually have NBA franchises here, but it’s not our priority right now,” Silver said. “That’s not something we’re discussing at the moment. We’d need supersonic jets to make it work.”
Silver went on to say the NBA could have a presence in Europe similar to the Basketball Africa League. The NBA commissioner also said this is something the NBA is taking their time with, to make sure they do things in the correct ways.
“We’re moving slowly to ensure that anything we do is accepted by the existing basketball ecosystem,” Silver said. “We’ve been having direct conversations with stakeholders this week. We want to respect the traditions of European sports, no matter what direction we take.
“We’re talking about a competition – probably an independent league separate from the NBA. It would be a European league. What form it takes is still being explored. We’re speaking with various groups to understand what opportunities exist.”
