THE BUTLER FILE
Team: Miami Heat
Position: Forward
Height: 6-7
Weight: 230
Scoring Average: 17.7 points
College: Marquette
Draft: First round, 30th, 2011
Contract: Signed a 4-year $184 million extension, 2021
WAG: Kaitlyn Nowak, girlfriend
Children: One daughter, Rylee
Record/Accomplishments
6x NBA All-Star, 2015-2018, 2020, 2022
5x NBA All-Defensive Second team, 2014-2016, 2018, 2021
NBA Most Improved Player, 2015
NBA steals leader, 2021
The NBA has more than its share of great success stories but none better than Jimmy Butler’s. The Miami forward has overcome hardships that few could. His father left the family when Butler was an infant. His mother left him in even more haunting fashion when he was 13.
"I don't like the look of you,” Butler told reporters in 2012. “You gotta go."
No wonder why Butler plays every game with a ferocity as if his life depended on it. In a way it did.
Without basketball Butler would likely be another cautionary tale of a young man left with no family and no future.
Instead Butler has established himself as one of the most rugged players in NBA history. In an era when young players often think about offense over defense, Butler made his name doing the dirty work. He’s a 5x All-Defensive second-team honoree and led the league in steals in 2021.
Not drafted until the 30th pick in the first round in 2011, Butler didn’t become a starter until the 2013-14 season. But once he did, Butler was a menace on the defensive end. His toughness and character fit with the Miami Heat’s culture which acquired him in 2019 from the 76ers. By 2020 Butler had become just the third player in league history to post a 40-point triple-double in an NBA Finals game, joining LeBron James and Jerry West.