MIAMI — The Miami Heat have suspended Jimmy Butler for the third time in five weeks, this time an indefinite sanction issued Monday when the former All-Star forward left the team’s morning shootaround after being told he would not be returning from his previous suspension as a starter.

Butler had been scheduled to return Monday against the Orlando Magic at Kaseya Center, after serving a two-game suspension the team had issued “for continued pattern of disregard of team rules, insubordinate conduct and conduct detrimental to the team, including missing (the team’s) flight to Milwaukee.”

Each of the previous two suspensions kept Butler away from the team during road trips. This suspension, with its five-game minimum, would keep him away from the team until after the Feb. 6 NBA trading deadline.

According to a party familiar with Monday’s sequence of events, the team was told during the morning shootaround that forward Haywood Highsmith would continue to start, thereby casting Butler as a reserve, a role he last held on Jan. 27, 2017 while with the Chicago Bulls.

It was after the formal segment of the shootaround, when players were allowed to work in groups or alone that Butler left the gym.

Because the latest suspension comes with the wording of “withholding services,” the penalty for each game suspended is $532,737 per game, a higher rate than Butler’s previous two suspensions, based on a complicated game/days penalty scale. Five unpaid games under the current suspension would cost Butler $2,663,685.

In a statement released Monday, the Heat said they “are suspending Jimmy Butler without pay effective immediately for an indefinite period to last no fewer than five games. The suspension is due to a continued pattern of disregard of team rules, engaging in conduct detrimental to the team and intentionally withholding services. This includes walking out of practice earlier today.”

Shortly after the Heat announced pregame that coach Erik Spoelstra would not take questions on the suspension, he was asked at his pregame media session if things needed to be said to his team about the situation.

“No,” he said. “We didn’t even talk about anything today other than preparing for the Magic.

“I get it, what you guys all want right now. And I figure that’s why this media room is full right now. We’re trying to quiet the noise and we’re just focusing on the task at hand. There is no better place to be than just the present moment.”

Spoelstra also was asked about the benefits of having a roster with enough veterans to help maintain a sense of balance in the locker room.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t really care. We’re just focusing on the task at hand.

“We needed to improve in certain areas. So we need to maximize all of our time that we have together on getting better, continuing to find some kind of consistency of our identity.”

He added, “And that’s what we’re dedicating our time together, is on that, not on anything else.”

Butler was first suspended for seven games on Jan. 3, “for multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team over the course of the season and particularly the last several weeks.”

Earlier Monday, teammates spoke of the ongoing unknown with Butler, in light of the Heat in that Jan. 3 statement also noting, “Jimmy Butler and his representative have indicated that they wish to be traded, therefore, we will listen to offers.”

“It kind of feels normal now at this point,” guard Tyler Herro said of the shifting landscape of the Heat’s lineups and rotations. “It’s kind of just what it is. Nothing’s guaranteed, so just got to be ready to roll with whatever cards we are dealt.

“We just got to be ready to go.”

For all of the off-the-record quotes circulating on social media over the past month-plus about unease in the Heat locker room regarding Butler’s desire to be elsewhere, Monday was typical of teammates standing by a player who has helped lift the team to considerable playoff heights over his five-plus seasons with the franchise.

“We sure miss him,” said forward Nikola Jovic, one of the players Butler has been closest to in the locker room. “He’s one of the best players in the world. It’s of course not easy to just play without him. But it’s what we have to do, find a way to win without him and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Herro said the communication level has been consistent through the games Butler is available and those he is not.

“I think the communication is the same that it’s been,” he said.

Somewhat lost in the team’s other storylines, Herro said, is that the Heat remain a somewhat younger roster striving toward greater continuity.

“I mean just consistency, having to come in every single day and bring in the same intentions, defensively, offensively,” he said of the ongoing focus. “But honestly we’re a young team right now, so having to work through the ups and down is part of being a young team, having guys with little experience comes with un-consistency.

“And I think each game is an opportunity for us to become more consistent. And also, it’s a learning process for all of us, including myself in a newer role, and then having young guys in the rotation.”

Now the favorite

A longshot when he was drafted No. 15 out of Indiana in June, and then off the board in the void of early-season playing time, Heat 7-footer Kel’el Ware has jumped to the top of the board when it comes to the betting line for NBA Rookie of the Year.

Per BetOnline in a Monday release: Kel’el Ware opened after the draft for NBA Rookie of the Year at 50/1. He stayed that way until he went off the board on Dec. 2. He was added back on the board on Jan. 20 at 66/1. Today, Ware sits as the betting favorite at +180 (9/5).

That has Ware ahead of, in order at the top of BetOnline’s board San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (3-1), Washington Wizards center Alexandre Sarr (13-4), Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaylen Wells (4-1), Grizzlies center Zach Edey (7-1) and New Orleans Pelicans center Yves Missi (33-1).

“Believe it or not, he’s been ready since he came here,” Herro said Monday. “When he wasn’t in the rotation, he was just overly communicative about how he wants to be in the rotation, and how he feels like he can help. It always felt like he can help.

“And now I think him just getting his opportunity, I think everybody is starting to see what he’s capable of, early on, at a young age, with little experience in the league.”

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