Caron Butler(notes) helped the Dallas Mavericks get to the playoffs last season, where the team earned its first NBA title, but FOX Sports reports that he’d be open to leaving there and heading back to the Miami Heat, where he hasn’t played since the 2003-4 season.

Butler, of course, wasn’t involved in the playoffs since he went down with a knee injury in January. When the lockout ends, Butler will be an unrestricted free agent and he told FOX that Miami and Dallas are the two teams that interest him most.

“That’s pretty much it,” Butler said FOX. “I don’t want to throw no (other) teams out there. But I am open to any suggestions.”

In the 29 games the two-time All-Star played for the Mavs last season, the 31-year-old averaged 15 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.

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Source: FOX Sports

Related: Dallas Mavericks

MIAMI — It took some prodding. But count forward Caron Butler as a candidate to return to the Miami Heat.

Butler, a two-time All-Star working his way back from a season-ending knee injury suffered in January, will be an unrestricted free agent whenever the NBA lockout ends. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Miami, where Butler broke into the NBA and played from 2002-04, took a look at him.

“It’d be interesting,” Butler said in an interview with FOX Sports Florida about the prospect of returning to the Heat.

Asked whether Miami is on his list, Butler eventually said, “Yes.” But he didn’t want to talk too much about the Heat, which is understandable.

Butler, 31, remains loyal to Dallas, which wants him back after a season in which Butler went down with a ruptured right patellar tendon Jan. 1 and could only watch as the Mavericks beat the Heat for the NBA title last June. And he has no idea what the new rules might be in the NBA.

“I love Dallas, what that organization, the fans, what they did for me when I went down and got injured,” said Butler, who went scoreless in 12 minutes in the South Florida All-Star Classic on Saturday night, an event put on at Florida International University by Heat stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. “They supported me and stood by my side. Winning a championship there and being part of that there, that’s always special. So I just don’t know what it’s going to end up like. You got to see how stuff is structured with the new deal, the new collective bargaining agreement.”

Butler said Mavericks officials told him before the lockout started July 1 they want to re-sign him. But it’s unclear what type of salary Butler, who made $10.56 million last season, might be able to command.

“They definitely told me they wanted me back,” Butler said. “I’m grateful for the organization. We’ll see what happens. I love Dallas. I like a lot of other places. But I really love Dallas.”

So where else does Butler like?

“That’s pretty much it,” Butler said of not wanting to mention any teams other than Dallas and Miami. “I don’t want to throw no (other) teams out there. But I am open to any suggestions.”

Perhaps Wade, who played with Butler with the Heat in 2003-04, will suggest Butler might want to return to Miami once free agency gets under way.

“Me and Dwyane, we always talk about a lot of things. So anything can happen,” said Butler, who said the two have yet to talk about the forward’s free agency.

Butler averaged 15.4 points as a rookie with the Heat in 2002-03 before slumping to 9.2 when Wade arrived in 2003-04. But after being traded to the Lakers in 2004 and moving on to Washington in 2005, Butler played in All-Star games in 2007 and 2008.

Butler, who has a career average of 16.6 points per game, landed in Dallas in February 2010. He was averaging 15 points before crashing to the floor with his season-ending injury at Milwaukee, which is just north of his hometown of Racine, Wis.

“Good,” Butler said of how his knee feels, later calling it “100″ percent. “Ready to play. Anxious to play.”

It’s just not clear with which team yet.

MIAMI—

Five years ago, when the Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals, the widespread perception was that Pat Riley had outcoached Avery Johnson, as the Heat overcame a 2-0 deficit to take the best-of-seven series in six games.

Based on comments offered Monday by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the belief in Dallas is that the 2011 championship might have come down to the edge Rick Carlisle had on Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

Interviewed on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Live,” choosing his words carefully amid the NBA lockout, Cuban offered his view on how the Mavericks took this past June’s NBA Finals in six games, after falling behind 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

“I’ll tell you the interesting thing,” Cuban said, “after Game 3 of the Miami series, our guys said, ‘They aren’t making any adjustments. We got ‘em.’ And so the confidence was through the roof.”

Among the changes made during the series by the Mavericks was inserting point guard J.J. Barea into the starting lineup in place of shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson, and replacing sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic in the rotation with the more aggressive presence of forward Brian Cardinal. The Mavericks also adjusted their offense to take advantage of the Heat’s aggressive close-out defense on outside shooters.

The lone notable Heat adjustment was moving point guard Mario Chalmers into the starting lineup in place of Mike Bibby for Game 6, after falling behind 3-2 in the series. Spoelstra elected not to utilize 3-point specialist James Jones in the series and only fleetingly utilized reserve guard Eddie House.

Cuban also addressed the significance of exacting revenge against the Heat, albeit against the revised cast of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. He had mocked the Heat’s chances of succeeding with such a combination during the 2010 free-agency period.

“The playoffs run 57 days,” he said. “For me, it was 56 days, 23 hours and lots of minutes of pure anxiety. I really didn’t start to enjoy it until there were about 30 seconds left in the game . . . and it finally dawned on me that we had finally beaten the Evil Empire and all those doubts.”

iwinderman@tribune.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat

MIAMI—

Five years ago, when the Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals, the widespread perception was that Pat Riley had outcoached Avery Johnson, as the Heat overcame a 2-0 deficit to take the best-of-seven series in six games.

Based on comments offered Monday by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the belief in Dallas is that the 2011 championship might have come down to the edge Rick Carlisle had on Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

Interviewed on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Live,” choosing his words carefully amid the NBA lockout, Cuban offered his view on how the Mavericks took this past June’s NBA Finals in six games, after falling behind 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

“I’ll tell you the interesting thing,” Cuban said, “after Game 3 of the Miami series, our guys said, ‘They aren’t making any adjustments. We got ‘em.’ And so the confidence was through the roof.”

Among the changes made during the series by the Mavericks was inserting point guard J.J. Barea into the starting lineup in place of shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson, and replacing sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic in the rotation with the more aggressive presence of forward Brian Cardinal. The Mavericks also adjusted their offense to take advantage of the Heat’s aggressive close-out defense on outside shooters.

The lone notable Heat adjustment was moving point guard Mario Chalmers into the starting lineup in place of Mike Bibby for Game 6, after falling behind 3-2 in the series. Spoelstra elected not to utilize 3-point specialist James Jones in the series and only fleetingly utilized reserve guard Eddie House.

Cuban also addressed the significance of exacting revenge against the Heat, albeit against the revised cast of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. He had mocked the Heat’s chances of succeeding with such a combination during the 2010 free-agency period.

“The playoffs run 57 days,” he said. “For me, it was 56 days, 23 hours and lots of minutes of pure anxiety. I really didn’t start to enjoy it until there were about 30 seconds left in the game . . . and it finally dawned on me that we had finally beaten the Evil Empire and all those doubts.”

iwinderman@tribune.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat

BERLIN (AP) — Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki was awarded Germany’s highest honor for sport on Sunday, amid hopes that he will lead his country’s team to the 2012 Olympics.

German President Christian Wulff presented Nowitzki with the Silver Laurel Leaf, praising the Dallas Mavericks forward as one of the “giants of German sport.”

Nowitzki led the Mavericks to this year’s NBA title over the Miami Heat and was named the finals MVP.

Wulff praised his fellow German for remaining “modest and restrained” despite his success.

Nowitzki frequently returns to Germany, where he and his sister run a foundation that supports children around the globe.

Nowitzki will play for Germany at the European Championship, which starts Tuesday in Lithuania. The two finalists qualify for the Olympics in London.

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