Jimmy Butler is back to being the villain
The veteran NBA star finds comfort wearing the black hat.
It started, as it almost always does, with a tweet by Adrian “Woj” Wojnarowski, the former ESPN sports reporter. It was in the middle of October, in the afternoon, after Jimmy Butler’s infamous practice session, where he took the bench players on his then-team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and beat the starting group. The starters, which included then-franchise cornerstone Karl-Anthony Towns, were left with aghast over Butler’s defiance and triumph. He guarded several players, including the talented-but-sensitive Towns, and screamed in the direction of general manager Scott Layden saying “you ___ need me! You can’t win without me.”
At the time this happened, in 2018, Butler had requested a trade because he didn’t want to re-sign with Minnesota, and was frustrated at the lack of urgency from the Wolves brass in complying with his request. By taking control of a practice in a swaggering and feverish way, he was able to change the narrative into one that was controlled by him — the righteous athlete who was forced to play with these lackadaisical chumps. In light of recent news — that Butler has requested a trade for the Heat and continues to dig his heels in after a seven-game suspension — talking about his past is like a tinge of nostalgia meets deja vu. For all of his posturing as a different kind of athlete than the rest of these spoiled kids, Butler has now had issues everywhere he’s gone. Perhaps he’s just like everyone else.
I was on Twitter the day that Butler did an imperial march during practice, as I am most days, and it was compelling how much that changed Butler’s celebrity and standing in the league, for the betterment of his pockets and overall ego. NBA Twitter had days of absurdity and levity before — “meet me at Temecula” and the infamous night of DeAndre Jordan’s choice to renege on his verbal commitment to the Dallas Mavericks comes to mind — but it was never as eager to joke on people as it was on the day that Butler manspreaded around the practice court. Hours after the report came out, Butler sat down with Rachel Nichols for an exclusive interview for SportsCenter.
“I hadn’t played basketball in so long, and I was so passionate because I love the game. All my emotions came out at one time. Was it the right way to do it? No, but that’s what you’re going to get…”, said Butler to Nichols. After some prodding from Nichols, Butler explained that he was being brutally honest. “Who’s the most talented player on our team? KAT. Who’s the most god-gifted player on our team? Wiggs. Wiggs got the longest arms, the biggest hands, can jump the highest, can run the fastest. But, who plays the hardest? Me. I play hard.”
This interview was used to define Butler throughout the years. Long after he had been traded by the Wolves, and even after his half-season stop in Philadelphia, Butler played against Towns and they quarreled on the court, with Towns telling a swaggering Butler to “run and tell Rachel Nichols.” More than an interview, it is an entire telling of someone’s own worldview. “Brutally honest” is a phrase that would be used for a center-left politician that was running on being tough on crime so she could impress centrist-right voters. To use the media to become more popular must feel like the most rewarding feeling in the world. A trope often given to celebrities is that they can’t trust the media. Memes showed Nichols’ clear enjoyment when it came to interviewing Butler. He was using the media to get his spiritual politics out.
It should be noted that despite the narcissism of that interview, Jimmy Butler is a great basketball player. He was before the interview with Nichols. Where were you in the 2016-2017 NBA season, when Butler dragged a malcontented Bulls team to the playoffs and gave the Boston Celtics some good competition? Butler took the brunt of the offensive load that season, playing a little point forward when Rajon Rondo was struggling to gel with Fred Hoiberg. I have memories of his 52 point game against Charlotte in January, when he was dashing through the defense for pull-up jumpers and free throws. That’s what made Butler a compelling player to watch. Who doesn’t want to watch someone with a considerably different skill set than the rest of the league? For a player in this modern era of three point gunning, Butler is presented as an old-school talent. The game tends to go at a controlled, calm pace when he is at its center. The Bulls were not talented enough, not weird enough to be truly remembered, but it was that year where “Playoff Jimmy” suddenly became a buzzword on social media. To see Jimmy was to see someone methodical, menacing, in control, willing to take tough shots that only he could have made. In the NBA playoffs, that matters more than people are sometimes willing to admit.
Though he was traded to Minnesota that offseason for Zach LaVine and a first round pick, then subsequently traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, Jimmy Butler will be most famous for his tenure with the Miami Heat, his current team. To Miami, basketball is not only a game, but rather a militaristic operation, with rules and codes; a culture, nicknamed “Heat Culture”, that is both secretive and glaringly apparent. Antoine Walker was once benched after showing up to camp over the proper body fat percentage. Pat Riley, their former head coach and current general manager, plays the role of faux mob boss. The slicked-backed hair and big-money suits are as much a part of his shtick as discipline and defense are. Their three championships have come at the service of their superstars. Alonzo Mourning played there. Shaquille O’Neal played there. LeBron James took his talents there. Dwyane Wade was seemingly born there. It is a famous organization but a relatively new one as well; for a team that was introduced to NBA fans in the late 1980’s, it’s become one of the premier franchises in all of sport. Rick Ross attends the games and the Obama family was fond of the “Big 3” era. In the face of abnormal hate — fans booed LeBron for simply exercising his right to play for a front office that knew what they were doing — LeBron James and Dwyane Wade won.
Rarely has a partnership fit so perfectly from the beginning. The Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler are like Michelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt, likely partners that have fit so well that they’ve created their own state, their own world, a world that only they can communicate. Pat Riley couldn’t have found him a better star to communicate his corporeal punishment with. Like Riley, Butler is someone who comes from humble beginnings, only to achieve unlikely superstardom. Like Butler, Riley is an excellent soundbite, a natural with the media, almost making him seem like he isn’t media trained, even though he probably is. Like Riley, Butler not only has work ethic, he believes in it, and loudly preaches about it. He is not only the hardest-working person in the gym but also the hardest-working at telling everyone that he is the hardest working in the gym.
Riley is unlike other general managers. He is not ready to allow this new era of athletes to run roughshod over management and their vision for the roster. LeBron James and his team wanted head coach Erik Spoelstra fired; Riley did and denied LeBron’s request. Once LeBron was enough of a veteran to play front office politics, Riley was one of the few people that was able to keep LeBron’s need for control at bay. He found his son in Butler, who asked out of Minnesota and complained, but has never attempted to play general manager himself. Butler began to be the person that the Heat foam at the mouth for. His playoff performances were stirring, including the 56 point game in game four against the Bucks. A common thing you would see is his uncontrollable passion. Spit would fly out of his mouth like a leaking air conditioner. Despite the fact that they have not won a title, Butler had brought the Heat to two finals with no second-fiddle star. If someone were to ask if this partnership has been successful, I would say tremendously so.
Yet Butler wants out now. He states, through various reports, that the Heat have failed to get superstars to play in Miami with him. This is true. Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday are two players that the Heat could have had who ended up going to rival teams, rival teams that Butler has shown that he can beat. Both the Heat and Butler have taken hits in the public eye. Riley is not winning anymore, and hasn’t landed a free agent since Butler. It’s possible that his mobster routine is growing stale. How can you be hard on players when you can’t get premiere players to play for you? When the Heat lost to the Celtics in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, Butler was out with a MCL sprain. He boisterously claimed that “If I was playing, Boston would be home.” Riley denounced this video in a press conference, saying if you are not on the court, you can’t say these things.
Before he was suspended, Butler was lazy, taking threes where he would have driven the paint, jogging back when he would have ran back. Even teammates like Bam Adebayo questioned whether his heart was it. Looking at Butler now is like looking at an outsider, distrustful of the government above him. Spoelstra and Riley are now calming the fuss in an attempt to keep the conversation about what the team is doing on the court. Is it possible that, despite all of his arrogance, Butler is in the same predicament — feuding with his bosses who are tired of his immaturity — as the rest of the players in the league?