Homeless, broke and troubled? The story of Jimmy Butler, the figure of the Miami Heat

His mother threw him out of the house and a friend’s family adopted him; He went through high school without shining, improved in college and now shines with the Miami Heat. His time in Minnesota ended in a scandal.

Jimmy Butlerthe great figure of Miami Heatenjoying his present and dreams of the NBA title, in what could be a new chapter in the movie that is his life: his father leaves him and his mother threw him out of his house at age 13, he lived on the streets and in friends’ homes until he was adopted by a family, before rising to fame in the most important basketball league in the world.

Jimmy Butler’s harsh childhood

Jimmy Butler had a difficult childhood: his father abandoned him when he was a baby and, at the age of 13, his mother kicked him out of the house in Tomball, suburban Houston, Texas. “I don’t like the way you look, you have to leave”, he told her, as revealed in an interview with ESPN in 2011.

From then on, he lived on the street with some friends, until the Leslie family took him in (he knew Jordan Leslie in high school). Michelle, his mother, welcomed him as another child among the seven she already had. “They accepted me into their family, and not because of basketball…he just loved. That’s just what he did. I can not believe”he commented.

Eventually, Jimmy Butler gets into college, gravitating toward Marquette for its academic program (advice from Michelle Lambert, his adoptive mother). “We spent a lot of time trying to get rid of his wound and pain. He noticed what I said in public and in private and if it matched. He’s starting to trust me, but it’s a process,” said Buzz Williams, who was his coach at Marquette.

Over the years, he continued to talk to his biological parents. “I make mistakes. That means you don’t hold a grudge against anyone. I’ve grown so much because this game has taught me that you don’t take anything for granted. You respect everyone. You make sure everyone feels loved. That’s more than Tomball can give me,” Butler said in an interview with Bleacher Report.

Butler he was not a brilliant player during his school days. What he showed as a player for Tyler Junior College was a work ethics which ultimately led to him getting a scholarship to Marquette. In his senior year at University he averaged 16 points per game -not bad- and made the All-Big East team for the second year in a row.

Jimmy Butler during his college days, wearing a Marquette Golden Eagles jersey (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

He was 30th in the NBA Draft and became a star for the Miami Heat

Jimmy Butler was drafted 30th overall in 2011 by the Chicago Bulls. His draft position generated very few expectations, but the forward gained fame over the years until he became a great figure. Even in 2015, he was selected for the All-Star Game as a Reserve player.

Certainly, the circumstances that plagued him from a young age helped shape his hyper-competitive personality, which even got him into trouble during his stints with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers, two teams where he tried to show the quality he has, but where he was more shadows than lights.

With the Minnesota franchise, he had a strong run-in with coach Tom Thibodeau and his teammates Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. He even blasted GM Scott Layden, yelling, “You need me!” When asked by ESPN In this regard, Butler does not shy away from responsibility: “I am passionate when I play and I love the sport, I do it for no other reason than to compete and show that I am up to the best. All my emotions poured out in that moment. Is this right? Nope. But I can’t control it when I’m competing.”

With Philadelphia — a team he joined after forcing a trade from the Timberwolves — he’s no stranger to controversy, either. His ongoing feud with coach, Brett Brown, resulted in him once again leaving the franchise without a title in his hands. His destination for 2019? The one team he swore he’d never play for as a kid: Miami. In his second year as a professional player, he was asked in an interview what was the one thing he would not wear: “A Heat jersey.”

In Miami, he destroyed everything during the pandemic. It’s on Orlando’s famous bubble season, where the NBA was played and where the finals clashed between the Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers, led by LeBron James, who eventually won 4-2. But it was there that Butler finally established himself as one of the great players in the league, that nickname began to spread. Playoff Jimmy thanks to his ability to appear at decisive moments. and the lame he put together Big Face Coffee… his coffee shop! Yes, it was that in the bubble there was no quality offer and so he decided to bring his own coffee maker and start selling to players.

Now, the six-time All-Star (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2022) is excited to win his first NBA title, a new chapter in his film life. “My past taught me that anything is possible. All my life, people doubted me. My mother did. At school they told me I was too short, that I couldn’t play fast enough. They don’t know my story,” he said. And he judged: “They taught me that anything is possible and that what motivates me the most is when someone doubts me.”

Let’s go to the beginning of this saga that never stops playing. It all started in 2016, when the medium Terezowens reported a bombshell: Michael Jordan fathered a child in 1989 as a result of an infidelity during his relationship with Juanita Vanoy, mother of his firstborn Jeffrey. MJ wouldn’t want to know that boy and find money to hide the truth.

According to the aforementioned site, Jordan paid the mother until the child was 13 years old. What did the woman do next? He threw her out of the house. Here we have to join the stories, because at the same age, Jimmy Butler’s mother spoke some words that he never thought he would hear: “I don’t like the way you look. I want you to go away”, revealed at the time the basketball player was born in Houston, a city that Jordan visited several times in 1989. Undoubtedly, the strongest truth of the theory.

In February of that year, MJ was in Houston for the February All-Star and, seven months later, on September 14, Jimm was born.and. But it’s worth clarifying that there’s information that doesn’t add up: Butler is not seven months old, according to reports. This fact causes the story to lose its power, although another one remains in favor with followers.