Despite not appearing in Sunday’s All-Star Game, Jimmy Butler had an eventful past 10 days, including a wide-ranging interview with GQ and an expensive pair of sneakers that he donned in his return to Chicago.
Jimmy Butler has been in the news quite a bit in the past 48 hours, and not necessarily for the most flattering of reasons.
Indeed, it appears as though Butler sat out the All-Star Game on Sunday night in order to rest, which clocked in above any other ancillary reasons he may have not entered the game. NBA Twitter, of course, had a field day. A quick Twitter search of ‘Jimmy Butler’ will give you all manner of theories regarding Jimmy G’s party habits, as well as a throng of Clippers fans that felt as though Butler stole an All-Star spot from Lou Williams.
It’s anyone’s guess regarding exactly how this decision came about, and exactly what was said between Butler and Team Stephen head coach Mike D’Antoni. At any rate, Butler didn’t play in the game, and he’ll have a nice eight-day break before lacing them up for the Wolves on Friday night in Houston — against D’Antoni’s real-life squad.
Also during the All-Star break, Butler spoke with GQ’s Clay Skipper, in an article entitled Jimmy Butler Is Making It Up As He Goes Along. It’s a fascinating read, covering a wide-range of topics, both relevant to basketball and completely…not.
There’s a number of things that Wolves fans, as long as they did any measure of research on Butler upon his acquisition by Minnesota over the summer, probably already know. For instance, Butler plays a lot of dominoes. A lot. And he’s apparently really, really good. Outside of working out and playing basketball, it’s all he does.
A sampling:
"So are you better at basketball or dominoes?Dominoes."
"How many people you think there are in the world that are better at dominoes than you?Zero."
Butler discusses social issues (he has opinions that he feels align with the majority of NBA players, but doesn’t feel as though he has the same reach as a LeBron James or a Chris Paul, but will speak on matters if he’s asked), how much smarter he’s gotten as he’s gotten older, and what he learned when he first entered the league.
Oh, and he discusses his serious consideration to landing a helicopter on his high school’s football field. Spoiler alert: he decided it was too pricey.
It’s a great read; be sure to check it out if you have 15 minutes or so to spare.
Also discussed in the GQ piece: Butler’s shoes, including the pair that he wore at United Center less than two weeks ago in his not-so-triumphant return. (Butler played well, of course, but was out-dueled down the stretch by one Zach LaVine.)
According to Hypebeast.com, the shoes that Butler wore are valued at something like $15,000-$20,000, and at one point were worth $30k. In the GQ column, Butler declined to discuss the kicks. And all I have to say is … wow.
Next: How the Timberwolves should utilize Nemanja Bjelica
Thus ends an interesting All-Star break from the Timberwolves’ best player. Here’s hoping that he has just as newsworthy of a night come Friday in Houston at 7 p.m. CT.