Jimmy Butler has admitted several times that he likes confrontation. So it’s not a surprise that he’s bad beef with four teammates and one foe.
Jimmy Butler is one of the best players and competitors in the NBA. He has worked for everything he has earned in the NBA. The small forward was a bench player when he first got to the Chicago Bulls in 2011-12, but through hard work and dedication, Butler cracked the rotation in Chicago and became an elite two-way player.
Butler has a strong personality. He doesn’t sugarcoat things. He’s always going to speak his mind, and he doesn’t care if his teammates get offended on the basketball court because he knows he’s speaking for the betterment of the team.
Butler has played for the Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers, and Miami Heat. In Chicago, Minnesota, and Philadelphia, Butler had issues with teammates and coaches. His stint with the Heat has been great thus far, but Butler did develop beef with an Indiana Pacers player in 2019-20 while playing for Miami.
Jimmy Butler And Derrick Rose Had Tension Behind The Scenes With The Chicago Bulls Starting In The 2015 Playoffs
Jimmy Butler’s breakout season was in 2014-15. He averaged 20.0 points and made his first All-Star team. The Marquette product also won the Most Improved Player of the Year Award.
Butler started to see himself as the leader of the Chicago Bulls, but since Derrick Rose was a former MVP, he was still considered the “alpha.” That dynamic started to cause some tension between Rose and Butler.
The Bulls lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the 2015 playoffs in six games. During Game 6, Butler scored 20 points on 22 shots, while Rose finished with 14 points on only 16 shots. Many people in Chicago wondered why Rose looked passive in Game 6. According to Dan Bernstein of CBSChicago.com, Rose may have been playing lethargic on purpose.
“Sources describe a passive-aggressive reaction from Rose that was the culmination of tensions building in recent weeks with Butler’s emergence as a primary scorer,” Bernstein wrote.
Before the start of the 2015-16 season, Joe Cowley of The Chicago-Sun Times reported that Butler didn’t respect Rose’s work ethic. The 2015-16 season was Rose’s final campaign with the Bulls. He was traded to the New York Knicks in the summer of 2016, and after the trade happened, Butler said, “I can’t say that I was surprised but I knew that it had to be one of us to tell you the truth.”
Rose and Butler reunited on the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2017-18 season. It looks like the two have patched things up.
Joakim Noah And Jimmy Butler Had Several Heated Disagreements In 2015-16
Nick Friedell of ESPN reported in October 2017 that Joakim Noah and Jimmy Butler engaged in several heated disagreements throughout the 2015-16 season. Noah and Butler were very close when Butler joined the Chicago Bulls, but things changed after Butler made his first All-Star team and became a star.
“What happened?” Butler said. “I don’t know. All I can say is, obviously he’s been with me since I was a nobody in this league. And I went about things a lot differently. My voice wasn’t heard. And he’s been with me as I came to be an All-Star as well in this league. And my voice was heard then. And when my voice is heard, I’m going to let it be heard.”
“We’re just different people,” Noah said. “We were always very close; me and Jimmy were always very close, but things change.”
Butler didn’t always feel as if some members of the Bulls were putting in the work that he was. One of the things that always irritated Butler, specifically regarding Noah, was the center’s propensity for showing up late to team activities, setting a poor example for younger players.
After not speaking for a while, Noah and Butler patched things up in the summer of 2017 after Butler was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Noah was on the New York Knicks.
Jimmy Butler Didn’t Like Playing With Karl-Anthony Towns
The Chicago Bulls traded Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves on draft night in 2017. Butler was excited to play with Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.
The Timberwolves went 47-35 in 2017-18 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Both Towns and Butler made the All-Star team. Things appeared to be going great. However, they weren’t.
Butler didn’t like playing with Towns. The forward thought the center was too “soft.” Butler requested a trade from the Timberwolves before the start of the 2018-19 season because he felt he couldn’t win with Towns as his sidekick.
In his infamous practice with the Timberwolves, Butler went after Towns with countless verbal jabs. Jimmy called KAT “soft” and made sure everyone knew he was the best player on the team despite only shooting the ball a few times.
It doesn’t look like time apart made things better between Butler and Towns. During the 2020-21 season — Butler was on the Miami Heat by this time — Towns and Butler got into a back-and-forth in Miami, with Butler telling Towns, “You’re a loser. I already punked you once. You’re soft as baby sh*t.”
Jimmy Butler Took Issue With Andrew Wiggins’ Effort And Defense
Jimmy Butler wasn’t enamored with what he saw from Andrew Wiggins in their first season as teammates with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2017-18. Sean Deveney of Sporting News reported that Butler was “uncertain” about playing with Wiggins because of “his work ethic and his approach on the defensive end of the floor.”
Like he did to Karl-Anthony Towns, Butler attacked Wiggins during that infamous practice where he played with reserves. Butler yelled out “they ain’t s–t” and “they soft” at Wiggins and Towns as he led third-stringers to victories over the starting unit.
Butler’s beef with Wiggins wasn’t as deep as his beef was with Towns, but there was tension there, so much so that Butler demanded a trade. The Timberwolves traded Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers. Butler still gets booed whenever he comes back to Minnesota.
Jimmy Butler And TJ Warren Got Into It During A Miami Heat-Indiana Pacers Game
Jimmy Butler and TJ Warren got into it during a Miami Heat-Indiana Pacers game in January 2020.
Warren hooked Butler for a foul and the Heat star responded by stepping toward Warren. Butler was captured screaming, “You’re (expletive) trash!” toward Warren.
Later, after Warren drew an offensive foul from Butler, he clapped behind Butler’s head. That earned him a second technical foul and an ejection. Butler celebrated by blowing kisses at Warren, who flipped his middle finger at Butler as he exited the court.
After the game, Butler didn’t hold back on Warren.
“He’s soft,” Butler said about Warren. “He’s not even in my (expletive) league. If I was their coach, I would never put him on me ever again. Like no, put somebody else on me because I’m going to tear that (expletive) up every time. He’s trash.”
Butler loves confrontation, folks, so don’t be surprised if he develops more beef soon.