The NBA wasted no time in pumping out big news once the schedule got back to normal. We had a handful of major storylines drop this week, from a surprising coach firing (depending on who you talk to, anyway) to Kawhi Leonard’s return to Luka Doncic’s injury. It’s all stuff with the potential to change the balance of power, and there are plenty of fantasy ramifications to get into all over the place.

For now, however, the big story is the unceremonious end to Jimmy Butler’s time in Miami. The door for this was opened when the Heat declined to fork over a max contract this summer — which is fair, given Butler’s age and injury history — but it’s shocking to see things unravel so publicly, so quickly. Butler was almost the perfect embodiment of the Heat culture that we hear so much about, at least until he wasn’t. An informal trade preference — not a request — was leaked through the media, but who are we kidding there? The Heat immediately said they wouldn’t trade Butler and then Butler sandbagged it on the court, scoring 18 total points in two games after sitting out five due to illness. A formal trade request came down, Butler said he won’t find his joy again with the Heat, Miami handed Butler a seven-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team and are now open for business, and here we are.

So, Butler’s conduct worked in the short-term, as it at least forced the Heat to engage in serious trade talks given that this isn’t going to work out in Miami. The next steps get very complicated, however, because Butler is making $48.8 million this season and is expected to opt out of $52.4 million next year to hit the open market. The trade market is also limited, with Butler preferring win-now teams but most squads unable to take back salary in trades without gutting the entire roster. The Suns, for example, have no avenue to a deal that doesn’t include Bradley Beal waiving his no-trade clause.

On the flip side of that, the Heat shouldn’t feel obligated to take on bad deals to grease the wheels here. They likely have no interest in taking on Beal’s contract, and Pat Riley has a history of letting players leave for nothing in free agency rather than hamstring the team’s future flexibility. We’re setting up for a complicated standoff.

As for what that means in fantasy, you’d hope that Butler’s absence paves the way for Terry Rozier to assume a big scoring role again. It just hasn’t worked for him in Miami but there are some massive shoes to fill right now and he’s the guy most equipped to do it. If he’s available in your leagues, Rozier is a fine speculative add. After him it gets into deep-league territory pretty quickly with Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith atop the pile given their proximity to starting opportunities, and then Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Alec Burks. Kel’el Ware is a notable name who was good in the last game, but it’s hard to get fired up about him with Bam Adebayo still healthy.

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