Perhaps little says as much about the convoluted current relationship between Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat as this: The team has reached the end game of its seven-game unpaid suspension of the former All-Star forward with the situation nonetheless ongoing.

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.

With Wednesday night’s 117-108 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers marking the end of the Heat’s six-game West Coast trip and the end of Butler’s team-issued seven-game suspension, he’s eligible to return when the Heat opens a three-game homestand on Friday against the Denver Nuggets (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun).