LeBron James stepped into a three-point shot on the far side of the court, the ball perfectly rotating through the Friday night air, before it swished through the net. As he ran down the court, he shook his head and gritted his teeth.

Then, James got to the right block, the Atlanta defender on his back, before he spun and swished a midrange jumper. After a stop, he took a step closer to the Atlanta bench, got back to almost that same spot, spun and swished another fadeaway, running past the Hawks as their coach, Quin Snyder, frustratingly called a timeout to try to put a stop to it.

A day after James scored 38 points to lead the Lakers to a shorthanded win against Portland, he was at it again, this time against a dangerous Atlanta team. Looking ageless against a parade of young, athletic, long wings helplessly trying to stop him, James led the Lakers to a 119-102 win — their 20th of the season.

James’ 30 points — the final two of which forced Snyder into that late timeout — gave him his 563rd 30-point game, one more than Michael Jordan for the most in NBA history.

“It’s someone I idolized in my childhood, and I wear 23 because of him,” James said of Jordan. “So, to know that I can sit here and be in the room or in the conversation or whatever it is, when you mention MJ, it’s just super-duper dope for me, being a kid from where I’m from.”

James, who starred without Anthony Davis against Portland, got Davis back on Friday. Davis scored 18 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, anchoring a terrific defensive performance.

Austin Reaves scored 20 to go with seven rebounds and six assists, and Rui Hachimura and Dalton Knecht each added 13. Dorian Finney-Smith also hit a pair of corner threes on his way to eight points off the bench.

The win, the Lakers’ seventh in their last nine games, was one of the team’s better all-around performances outside of 19 turnovers against Atlanta’s aggressive perimeter defense.

While Trae Young scored 33 points for Atlanta (18-17), Max Christie harassed him for most of the game. The Lakers (20-14) held Atlanta to just six-for-34 shooting from three while outrebounding Atlanta by 17.

After the game, coach JJ Redick didn’t start his media availability by praising the Lakers for their overall effort but by pointing out his frustrations with the defense, particularly Finney-Smith’s performance, in the first half.

On a night when James added another accomplishment to a career defined by greatness, Redick saw a chance to try to pull greatness from his roster.

“[Finney-Smith] had an awful first half. It was bad,” Redick said. “He was great in the second half. I told him that at halftime, he was awful. I don’t know where that came from — I played with him, watched him. Our game-plan discipline in the first half was so bad. It was so bad.”

Redick was aggravated with the Lakers’ transition defense and their coverages of Bogdan Bogdanovic in the halfcourt.

Lakers star Anthony Davis battles for a rebound against Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels in the second half Friday.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

“I’m encouraged by our team in general. I think the message that I relayed to them at halftime is the reason why that stuff matters, the reason why executing a personnel-based scouting report that we talked about, is because I don’t want to coach a good team. I don’t want to be a part of a good team,” Redick said. “I want to be a part of a great team and I believe this team can be a great team. So it is about the small details.”

The Lakers will head to Texas for a pair of tough games. First, against Houston on Sunday and then against Dallas on Tuesday before returning to L.A. for their next eight games (seven at home and their first at the Intuit Dome).

Jimmy Butler‘s six-season tenure with the Miami Heat appears to be nearing its end. Butler, who led Miami to the NBA Finals in 2020 and 2023, was suspended by the team Friday for “conduct detrimental to the team,” one day after indicating to the Heat that he would like to be traded.

Butler, who arrived at training camp this season with a declaration of “no shenanigans,” had scored only 18 points combined in the past two games after sitting out the previous five because of an illness. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Dec. 10 that the Heat were listening to offers on Butler and then on Dec. 25 that Butler preferred a trade out of Miami.

The situation escalated to a point that after Thursday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers, Butler said he wanted to find his joy again on the court. When asked if he could do that in Miami, he answered “probably not.”

ESPN insiders Tim Bontemps, Bobby Marks, Kevin Pelton and Brian Windhorst look at how the situation between the six-time All-Star and the franchise he has played for since 2019 got to this point, why a trade might not be as easy as it seems and what Butler could bring to a contender.

How did Pat Riley go from vowing not to trade Butler to a seven-game suspension with the Heat now listening to trade offers?

Butler’s tactics to force Miami’s hand and reverse its stance have appeared to work in the short term. The Heat didn’t fully articulate all the components of what they felt was his “conduct detrimental” that led to the suspension, but Butler clearly wanted to be traded and took measures to get the Heat to come to the same conclusion. His lackluster play the past two games after sitting out five because an illness are probably on the list. In the short term, this play by Butler will cost him $2.35 million in salary but he could eventually win some or all of it back through a planned players’ union grievance. — Windhorst

How have Riley and the Heat handled similar situations in the past?

Riley has never been afraid to say no to star players or walk away from them when he doesn’t want to pay them. Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane Wade all left to sign elsewhere at various points. He traded Shaquille O’Neal and Shawn Marion, among others, when he wanted to pivot the franchise. Now Butler will be on that list. Riley has always been able to acquire major talents, and that reputation has always emboldened him to play hardball. — Windhorst

This isn’t the first time Butler’s tenure with a team has ended poorly. What happened in Chicago, Minnesota and Philadelphia?

Each of those situations were different. Chicago refused to give Butler a max contract and traded him to Minnesota for a package of young players and draft picks.

The Minnesota situation was very similar to this one: Butler was unhappy with his contract and requested a trade. But there was one massive difference: Butler had just turned 29, not 35. He eventually was sent to the 76ers for Dario Saric, Robert Covington, Jerryd Bayless and a second-round pick.

Then, after one season in Philadelphia, the 76ers essentially chose to pay a combination of Tobias Harris, Josh Richardson and Al Horford over Butler and sent him to Miami in a sign-and-trade during the summer of 2019. — Bontemps

Can the 7-game suspension be extended? Have previous players been suspended this long for similar standoffs?

The suspension includes Saturday’s home game against the Utah Jazz and the upcoming six-game trip. It’s clear Riley is sending a message that he does not want Butler around the team right now. The unknown is what happens when the suspension ends ahead of Miami’s Jan. 19 home game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Unless Butler is considered to violate the conduct detrimental policy in his contract from the time the suspension starts, Miami cannot extend the suspension to include more games. Because the suspension is by the team and not the NBA, the Heat will not receive luxury tax savings.

Butler is not the only player in the past three seasons to be suspended by his team. In November 2022, the Brooklyn Nets suspended guard Kyrie Irving eight games for being “unfit to be associated” with the team after the guard failed to say whether he held antisemitic beliefs. — Marks

How much will Butler be fined and can a grievance be filed?

Butler is being fined $336,543 for each of the seven games missed. The amount equals 1/145 of his $48.8 million salary, totaling around $2.4 million. Butler has 30 days to file a grievance, and the amount fined will sit in an escrow account until the situation is resolved. The grievance process could take up to a year. The NBA Players Association issued a statement late Friday that the suspension was excessive and inappropriate.

Which teams could actually trade for him?

Butler asking to be traded and the Heat now listening to offers does not change the challenges of finding the former All-Star a new home. The combination of Butler’s $48.8 million salary this season and nearly a third of teams not allowed to take back more salary in a trade makes any potential deal complicated.

Three out of the four teams on Butler’s preferred list — the Dallas Mavericks, the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns — would need to trade a quarter of their roster. The Suns would need to have Bradley Beal waive his no-trade clause. Sources told ESPN, that the Heat have no desire to take back the $110 million owed to Beal and that Phoenix would need to find a third team. The Warriors and Mavericks probably would need to find a third or fourth team to reroute some of the contracts sent out.

The Heat also are not allowed to take back more salary because they are an apron team. — Marks

Could Butler help a contender this season and in the future (if he were to re-sign with that team)?

That depends on how much Butler benefits from rediscovering the joy in basketball with another team. Butler’s 17.6 scoring average is his lowest since 2013-14, the season before he won Most Improved Player and was voted an All-Star for the first time, but there’s reason to believe Butler has more to give elsewhere.

Butler’s 21% usage rate is down substantially from last season’s 24%. At the same time, Butler is scoring more efficiently. His .648 true shooting percentage would be the best of his NBA career, narrowly ahead of 2023-24. And Butler’s 58% 2-point shooting is easily a career high, suggesting his scoring downturn is more about being selective than an inability to create shots.

Not only do Butler’s peripheral stats remain strong, we have ample evidence of “Playoff Jimmy” playing his best when the stakes are the highest. During Butler’s four playoff runs in Miami — before he sat out the Heat’s 2024 first-round loss to the Boston Celtics because of an MCL sprain — he led the NBA with 12.4 wins by my WARP (wins above replacement player) metric over that span.

During the regular season, Butler was just sixth in total WARP during the corresponding seasons. He produced 3.7 more WARP in the playoffs than we’d expect based on his regular-season performance. Only Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was a greater playoff overperformer than Butler from 2020 through 2023.

At some point, Butler’s age (35) will undoubtedly take a toll, explaining Miami’s reluctance to offer him a max extension. Over the next three seasons, my SCHOENE projection system forecasts Butler to decline by about three wins in terms of regular-season value based on the development of similar players at the same age. Though Butler’s 2025-26 projection still puts him in the NBA’s top 20 players, by 2027-28 that forecast drops to 45th. — Kevin Pelton

What kind of extension is Butler looking for? What’s the most likely outcome ahead of the trade deadline?

Because of the league’s Over-38 rule, the maximum extension Miami could sign Butler is for two years, $112.6 million. That would replace his $52.4 million player option for next season with a new salary starting at $54.1 million. The second year would pay Butler $58.5 million when he is 37.

If Butler were traded, he would be eligible to sign a two-year, $111 million extension with his new team.

A trade demand by Butler and now suspension does not mean the Heat are mandated to make a trade. If Miami does not receive an offer of its liking, it can either let Butler walk in free agency if he declines his player option — or work together on a trade.

Butler, who will turn 36 in September, does not fit the roster timeline of the Brooklyn Nets, the only team that projects to have more than $40 million in cap space. — Marks

Are we sure he’ll be traded at all?

No. The way things played out with Paul George last season with the LA Clippers is a blueprint for how this situation could unwind over the next few months.

The longstanding paradigm in the NBA in these situations is that the team with a disgruntled player like Butler “has to get something” and trade him somewhere. But that was in a previous financial reality in which the league existed.

Under this far more restrictive collective bargaining agreement, the NBA is operating in what is much closer to a hard cap environment than it used to. So if the process of getting something in a deal requires a team to take back negative long-term salary, that can cause real problems for a club trying to pivot past such a deal in the future. That’s doubly true for the Heat, who remain one of the league’s most desirable destinations for players and want to have as much flexibility to acquire more high-end talent in the future.

That’s one of several reasons why the Heat, according to sources, are reluctant to take back long-term money in a Butler trade. Coupled with the trade restrictions that have made it hard for any big salaries to be moved across the league, sources are far from convinced a deal is guaranteed to happen in the next month. — Bontemps

KAPALUA, Hawaii — Collin Morikawa has played Kapalua enough to know that trailing Hideki Matsuyama by seven shots early in the second round was no reason to panic. Sure enough, he nearly caught up to the Japanese star Friday at The Sentry.

Matsuyama played bogey-free on another gorgeous day on Maui with moderate wind, making seven birdies in a 10-hole stretch in the middle of his round and posting an 8-under 65 for a one-shot lead going into the weekend of the PGA Tour season opener.

Morikawa ran off five straight birdies in the scoring stretch late — only one of them longer than 5 feet — until his streak ended on the par-5 closing hole at the Plantation course with a 12-foot birdie putt that missed on the high side.

He also had a 65 and was expecting more of the same on the weekend. Conditions are prime for scoring, and The Sentry has the best players from the PGA Tour last year.

“When you look at the leaderboard, I’m through six holes and I’m even par and guys are lapping the field already,” Morikawa said. “But like I said, it’s not telling myself I’ve got to be patient. I just know this golf course, and I know at any point you can go on a little stretch of birdies, and I just had to keep playing my game.”

It was the eighth time Morikawa had 65 or better at Kapalua, the most of any player since 2020 when the two-time major champion made his debut.

Matsuyama went about his business, breaking into a big smile when he holed a 35-foot birdie putt across the green on the par-3 11th. He was at 16-under 130 with a pack of players lining up behind him.

“I’m definitely satisfied with where I am,” Matsuyama said.

Ten players were separated by three shots going into the weekend of the tournament that invites only PGA Tour winners from 2024 and the top 50 from the FedEx Cup.

Corey Conners of Canada and Thomas Detry of Belgium were among those at 14-under 132 thanks to big finishes of their own.

Conners holed a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th, followed with two medium-range birdie putts and two-putted from the front of the green on the 18th for another birdie and a 66. Detry was 6 under on the final six holes. He drove the green on the 306-yard 14th hole to 10 feet for eagle and had to settle for par on the 18th for a 65.

The field averaged 68.1, which was skewed slightly by Davis Riley posting the first 80 of the season. He made four straight birdies, a tough two-putt par and then took a 9 on the 17th hole with a lost ball to the right on one tee shot and a second tee shot into the left hazard. The margin of those misses was about the length of a football field.

Only four players failed to break par.

For everyone else, it was a case of taking aim at spots on the contoured greens that feed to the hole and cashing in with birdies.

Sepp Straka birdied every hole on the back nine until he hit what he considered his best shot, a 6-iron to 20 feet, only to miss the putt. He shot 65.

Eight players shot 64, a group that included Davis Thompson, who was 14 shots better than his first round of the year. Patrick Cantlay was 10 shots better with his 64.

“Now I need to do it again,” said Cantlay, who still was eight shots behind Matsuyama.

Among the group three shots behind was former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who birdied eight of his last 10 holes. Clark made the argument the low scoring was a product of the players, not the course.

“I don’t necessarily prefer this low, but at the same time, we make courses like this look easy,” Clark said. “To be honest, it’s not that easy. Typically, there’s a lot of wind here, and we didn’t have much wind today, so you’re going to have a lot of birdie looks and sometimes eagle looks.

“I’ve never really shot 20 under on the PGA Tour, so maybe I can break it this week.”

At this rate, that won’t be enough.

Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley also had a 64, marked by an eagle on the final hole and his two sons racing onto the fairway as he walked to the 18th green. Bradley has not ruled out playing in the Ryder Cup. But that’s a long way off.

“We’re two rounds into 2025,” he said. “So if we get to July and it’s looking like that, then we’ll start to talk, but for now I’m just going to keep playing my best.”