The Jimmy Butler reunion with Miami is not happening tonight. Eight months since the trade that ended weeks of bitterness between Butler and the Heat, the Golden State Warriors are now in Florida. After losing to the Orlando Magic yesterday, the exhausted Dubs are in Miami today. But without their star power. The 36-year-old hinted that something like this might happen right after yesterday’s game. So did Stephen Curry.

The Bay Area side officially ruled out Jimmy Butler ahead of tonight’s matchup against the Heat. He joins the other vets, Curry, Draymond Green, and Al Horford, who are getting some much-needed rest this game.

According to the injury report, Butler is suffering from lower back strain, a condition that sidelined him for another game at the start of this season. Green has an unspecified illness, and Horford is resting (left toe injury management) for the second night of back-to-back games. Stephen Curry has an injured right ankle (soreness), and he’s played at least two games with it. It’s not clear how long he’ll be sidelined.

Jonathan Kuminga and De’Anthony Melton are both rehabbing knee injuries and continue to remain absent. Hence, we’ll see a much younger Warriors lineup on the court today.

In their place, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Gui Santos, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, and Will Richard started the game. Quinten Post was put on the B-squad because he’s not been part of a veteran starting lineup. Buddy Hield is also back after a brief illness.

On the other end, Bam Adebayo returned tonight from a six-game hiatus because of a toe sprain, maybe to play against his former teammate, but that was far from happening. The Heat are down Nikola Jovic but have former Dub Andrew Wiggins in the lineup.

Why was Jimmy Butler not eager to see the Miami Heat?

Steve Kerr was probably prepared for this. Before the Orlando game, he expressed concern about the grueling schedules and rise in injuries across the league. The Dubs, too, showed fatigue against the Magic. Jimmy Butler was mad at Buddy Hield for a turnover, and he yelled that he would not pass him the ball again!

After the game, reporters tried to gauge whether Butler was eager to play against the Heat.

“Who knows?” was the exasperated response.

The Bay suffered a blowout loss, and he had only 11 points in his first game back in Miami after the trade this past March. Yet there was no adrenaline boost from vengeance here. A bed was apparently his immediate goal. “We’ll see how we feel when we wake up,” he said yesterday. He woke up and decided that, clearly, a reunion was not on the cards.

Stephen Curry also revealed he tweaked his right ankle during the game against the Spurs. He had a poor shooting game against the Pelicans, followed by a game-high 34 points against Orlando. But that was as far as his ankle could go. He’s also been dealing with an illness for the entire past month.

Without the veterans, the Warriors and Heat had a quarter-by-quarter tug-of-war. There was a point when the Dubs were 20-4, their largest deficit in the first quarter this season. But after an abysmal start, Kerr’s side caught up and led late in the third, 74-69. They were toe-to-toe until the last quarter before the home side went on a 21-4 run and recorded their seventh win of the season at Kaseya Center.