Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler (born September 14, 1989, Houston, Texas, U.S.) American professional basketball player known for his hard-nosed intensity and standout performances in postseason games. He led the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to two appearances in the NBA finals (2020 and 2023).

Butler was abandoned by his father as an infant and was raised by his single mother in the Houston suburb of Tomball until age 13, when she kicked him out of the house. He lived in a series of temporary accommodations for years—often without parental supervision—before finding a permanent residence with a friend’s family before his senior year of high school. On the court, Butler was an all-district player that season, but he did not receive any scholarship offers from National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college basketball programs. Instead, he attended Tyler Junior College in nearby Tyler, Texas, where he led the team in scoring his freshman season and drew attention from a number of Division I schools. In 2008 he joined first-year head coach Buzz Williams at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the lifelong Texan had difficulty adjusting to both Midwestern winters and Williams’s in-your-face coaching style. Butler was a part-time player in his first season with Marquette but became a starter in his junior year. His tenacious defense and well-rounded game helped propel the Golden Eagles to appearances in the NCAA Division I tournament (March Madness) in each of his three seasons at Marquette.

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Butler was selected with the final pick of the first round of the 2011 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. As at Marquette, he initially played sparingly for the Bulls and was primarily used as a defensive stopper. He became a full-time starter in his third season, averaging 13.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. He broke into stardom during the 2014–15 NBA season, upping his scoring average to 20 points per game and earning All-Star honours en route to being named the NBA’s Most Improved Player. Butler was named an All-Star in each of the next two seasons, and he set a career high by averaging 23.9 points per game in 2016–17, but his individual excellence did not translate into team success. The Bulls never advanced past the second round of the playoffs during his six seasons in Chicago, and the team decided to rebuild around a younger core of players after the 2016–17 season.

Butler was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the day of the 2017 NBA draft, where he joined a team headed by a former coach in Chicago, Tom Thibodeau. In 2017–18 Butler, playing alongside ascending star centre Karl-Anthony Towns, helped spur the Timberwolves to a 16-win improvement on its previous record (47–35) and the team’s first playoff appearance in 14 years. Despite the promising initial campaign in Minnesota, Butler grew frustrated with the work ethics of Towns and the team’s other young players, and he requested a trade early in the 2018–19 season. His much-publicized disruption of a team practice helped pave the way for Butler to be traded to the Philadelphia 76ers just 13 games into the Timberwolves’ season. In Philadelphia he became the team’s third dominant on-court presence alongside fellow All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. The 76ers quickly became one of the league’s title favourites and finished the regular season having earned the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. After a convincing first-round win, the 76ers lost a heartbreaking series to the eventual-champion Toronto Raptors that was decided on a last-second shot in the seventh game. Butler became a free agent for the first time in his career during the off-season, and he signed a four-year $142 million contract with the Miami Heat.

Butler made an immediate impact on the Heat, helping them reach the NBA finals (a six-game loss to the Los Angeles Lakers) in his first season with the team. While the Heat lost in the first round of the 2020–21 playoffs, Butler led the NBA with 2.1 steals per game and averaged a career-high 7.1 assists per game during the regular season. He was selected to his sixth career All-Star Game in 2021–22, and Miami posted the best record in the Eastern Conference (53–29). The Heat advanced to the conference finals, where they lost a seven-game series to the Boston Celtics. The following year saw the Heat muddle through the regular season, posting a 44–38 record despite another solid year from Butler (22.9 points per game). The team needed to win two play-in games to qualify for the playoffs, where they faced the Milwaukee Bucks—owner of that season’s best regular-season record—in the first round. Butler lived up to his “Playoff Jimmy” nickname that series, averaging 37.6 points per game (including 56 in a game-four victory) as the Heat became the NBA’s first eight seed to beat a one seed in just five games in a seven-game series. Miami won its next two playoff series (including a seven-game conference finals rematch with the Celtics) to advance to the NBA finals. The team’s hot streak ended in the finals as the Heat lost a five-game series to the Denver Nuggets.

In addition to his play in the NBA, Butler was a member of the U.S. men’s national basketball team that won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.