With another NBA season set to kick off, let’s take a look at one of the league’s brightest and quirkiest stars. Whether it’s a new hairstyle or a country music album, the four-time All-NBA honoree and five-time NBA All-Defensive team honoree Jimmy Butler has mastered the art of getting people to talk about him. Coming off the best postseason of his career where he was just one missed shot away from returning to the NBA Finals, Butler will be expected to compete at the same level. That’s nothing for a player who has surpassed every expectation put on him.
Early Life and Tyler Junior College
Born in Tomball, Texas, Butler did not have an easy childhood. His mother told him, “I don’t like the look of you. You gotta go.” After spending years at different friends’ houses, Michelle Lambert, the mother of a friend Butler made at a summer basketball camp, allowed Butler to stay in her home during his senior year of high school. Butler does not hold grudges against his parents and says they are in contact today.
As a two-star recruit ranked 73rd in his home state of Texas he was not heavily recruited like other NBA stars. His collegiate journey started at Tyler Junior College when no other college gave him a look.
He was only able to transfer to Marquette because head coach Buzz Williams was at Tyler recruiting one of Jimmy’s teammates. When the team needed to fill out their roster, Williams remembered Butler. He pushed Butler harder than anyone previously had because he saw the potential in him. It was however his motivation to prove people wrong who doubted him that truly made Butler different.
He recalled,
“I had to find a way to fit in, to contribute to winning games, to eventually work my way into Buzz not being able to take me off the floor. It wasn’t because I was the best player. It may have been because I played hard every possession or I took a charge or I defended. It was never because I was the best player.”
It was a big moment for Butler who thought he was finally going to reach his goal of getting his college degree. On senior night, he had the Lamberts by his side, the family who took him in back in high school.
Chicago Bulls: A Star is Born
Butler was drafted as the last pick in the first round of the 2011 NBA draft. Making it to the NBA, he already surpassed all expectations but he was just getting started. He fit into Tom Thibodeau’s system perfectly; a player who outworked everyone and had the confidence to take on any defensive assignment. The shooting struggled, but it was everything else he was willing to do that made him stand out.
Butler played with Rip Hamilton during his first two seasons in Chicago. Hamilton told him to keep shooting and taking advantage of his opportunities. His biggest one came when Hamilton was sidelined with a torn plantar fascia and Butler was given more playing time. By his third season he was averaging the most minutes per game in the entire league, including logging a franchise record sixty minutes in a triple-overtime loss to the Orlando Magic. The following season he was named Most Improved Player, the first player to win the award in Bulls’ history.
Butler’s time ended on a somewhat rocky note after he questioned the team’s younger players’ desire to win. He was fined and held out of the starting lineup in the following game as discipline for the comments. It seemed like he had outgrown Chicago and was ready for the next chapter in his career.
The Minnesota Experiment
Traded on draft night in 2017 for Zack LaVine, Kris Dunn, and the seventh pick in the draft, the expectations were high for Butler to lead a franchise back to the playoffs which had not made it since 2004. Despite being chosen as an All-Star, he did not participate in All-Star weekend to rest for a long playoff run. Unfortunately, Butler missed significant time in the second half of the season after suffering a knee injury that required surgery in the first game after the All-Star Break.
Despite missing time, in his first year, he led the team to the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs. That was the peak of Butler’s time in Minnesota as things only went downhill from there. Before the start of training camp, an alleged trade demand was made that was not honored. Instead, it gave us one of the best moments (allegedly) in recent Minnesota sports history. After embarrassing the Timberwolves’ starting roster it was clear a change of scenery was necessary for Butler. Ten games into the following season, Butler was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Tobias Harris Over Me”
If we’re being honest Philly chose Ben Simmons over Butler. As of now, it’s quite clear the Sixers made the wrong decision. Simmons sat out all of last season and Butler has emerged as a true star on the Miami Heat. Not that he wasn’t on his previous teams, but this team has taken on Butler’s identity of high energy and tough defense. In his first season with the team, he successfully led a team to the NBA Finals after sweeping the Pacers, defeating MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks, and the Boston Celtics in the NBA bubble.
For an athlete who did not start his career as a scorer, he averaged over 27 points in his first Finals appearance, including a 40-point triple-double win. Only LeBron James and Jerry West have recorded 40-point triple doubles in the Finals.
In 2021 Miami solidified their belief in Butler signing him to a four-year contract worth $184 million. He led the team to the best record in the Eastern Conference, securing the number one seed in the playoffs. However, critics were ready to chastise Butler after he and head coach Eric Spolestra got into it on the sidelines during a regular season game. Longtime Heat player Udonis Haslem who also got involved with the sideline spat stated he sees a lot of himself in Butler. He said both bring the highest level of competition every day. Haslem who has taken on more of a player coach role, continued by saying that one of the reasons he has not retired yet is because of the opportunity to compete with Butler.
After breaking multiple playoff records for the Heat held by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, he solidified himself as one of the franchise’s best players in the postseason. He even became the first player since Michael Jordan in 1988 to record multiple games of 40-plus points and at least four steals in the same playoff series.
His time in Miami will not be defined by the missed shot at the end of game seven. It will probably fuel Butler for next season’s playoffs. He is now a playoff veteran and understands what is necessary to reach the Finals once again. In the offseason, many videos were posted showing Butler working on his three-point range. He insists his game will always be centered around driving to the basket, but Butler is the type of athlete to make sure he doesn’t miss if he’s in the same game-winning situation. He’s become “the guy” ten years after trying to find a way to fit into the NBA offensively.
Life After Basketball
Miami is the perfect city for a personality as big as Butler’s. If there is one thing for sure it’s that the six-time All-Star wants to do more than just ball. Love him or hate him, the internet loves to talk about Jimmy Butler and he loves to keep them talking. His coffee brand “Big Face Coffee” that was born in the quarantine bubble is exploding. The brand has its own merch along with coffee accessories. Whatever Jimmy Butler decides to put his mind to seems to succeed.
