What is wrong with Jimmy Butler? If you ask Shams Charania, NBA insider at The Athletic, FanDuel TV and Stadium, the Miami Heat forward is “feared to have an MCL injury in his knee” after a collision with Philadelphia 76ers wing Kelly Oubre Jr. in Wednesday night’s Eastern Conference play-in game.
Charania reported the potential MCL injury around 11 p.m. ET on Wednesday, with a follow-up post indicating Butler would likely miss multiple weeks.
Almost immediately, local Heat beat reporters and even Butler’s agent denied the info.
The expectation is Miami's Jimmy Butler will be out multiple weeks, sources said. Butler remarkably played the final three quarters vs. 76ers last night with what is now feared to be an MCL injury. https://t.co/dEDMAuuXuN
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 18, 2024
“One national insider wants to jump ahead on the story, because that’s what they try to do – and could ultimately end up right, if the MRI breaks in the writer’s favor – but the beat writers are on top of it,” Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald posted on X.
Jackson reminded fans it is impossible to diagnose the injury without an MRI.
One national insider wants to jump ahead on the story, because that's what they try to do – and could ultimately end up right, if the MRI breaks in the writer's favor – but the beat writers are on top of it. While there's obvious concern, there's no MRI yet and thus no diagnosis… https://t.co/vC2LJxsRMx
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) April 18, 2024
Miami Herald beat reporter Anthony Chiang was not as overt in his criticism of Charania, but referenced his updates in a post on X.
ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski had no update on Butler ahead of the MRI.
Jimmy Butler’s MRI scheduled for 3:30 p.m. today for those wondering. https://t.co/8lHikK22ke
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) April 18, 2024
Shortly after, Butler’s agent Bernie Lee appeared on SiriusXM NBA Radio to call out Charania’s “created reality.”
“We don’t see the doctor until later this afternoon,” Lee told hosts Frank Isola and Brian Scalabrine. “It blows my mind that somebody who wasn’t in the arena can somehow come up with a medical timeline that literally four of us … we don’t even know.”
Lee then challenged Charania directly: “What do you know that I don’t know?”
“We don’t even know…and now we’re having to live in somebody else’s created reality”
Jimmy Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee (@BernieoLee), disputes the current injury reports on his status with @TheFrankIsola and @Scalabrine
⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/HZ0JNY48tV
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) April 18, 2024
Aside from Lee’s timeline, the most concrete information put out so far about Butler came from Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports from Philadelphia postgame.
Fischer posted a video of Butler limping as he left the arena.
Jimmy Butler limped out of Wells Fargo Center after the Heat's play-in loss.
(via @JakeLFischer) pic.twitter.com/xrb78IHM4d
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) April 18, 2024
Considering Charania himself reported Butler has yet to undergo an MRI to diagnose the knee injury, it is unclear why he would feel confident reporting specifics of the injury or a recovery timeline.
Charania’s carefully constructed word salad includes the word “fear” likely as a hedge. This way, he can hold true that he heard from someone with the Heat that they are worried it could be an MCL injury while also pleasing his bosses (and his ego?) by getting the info out first. The timeline is likely just what Charania knows to be the typical timeline for recovery from an MCL sprain.
As always, we can question who this benefits. Charania jumping the gun to be first gets him some kind of insider bonus points, but Heat and NBA fans are no closer to the truth.
In the meantime, he pissed a ton of people off and may be flat-out wrong.
