Jimmy Butler

Butler has three children with his former girlfriend. He missed the beginning of his Miami Heat career in 2019 while on paternity leave after the birth of his first child. He is a Christian.

Butler's father died on February 8, 2024. He has also maintained a friendship with actor Mark Wahlberg, whom he met while Wahlberg was filming Transformers: Age of Extinction in Chicago.

Butler's father left the family when Butler was an infant, and Butler lived with his mother in Tomball, Texas, until she asked him to leave at age 13. He moved among friends' homes before Jordan Leslie and Leslie's family provided him with a place to stay during his senior year at Tomball High School. Butler became a team captain and averaged 19.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per game as a senior, but he did not receive an NCAA Division I scholarship offer.

He began college at Tyler Junior College, where he averaged 18.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game in 2007-08. He then accepted a scholarship to Marquette University, becoming a starter in his junior season and helping the Golden Eagles reach the NCAA tournament in each of his three seasons. He averaged 14.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game in 2009-10 and 15.7 points per game as a senior.

The Chicago Bulls selected Butler with the 30th pick in the first round of the 2011 NBA draft. He initially played limited minutes and served primarily as a defensive player, but he became a regular starter during his third season. In 2013-14, he was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team after averaging 38.7 minutes per game in the games he played.

Butler became an All-Star during the 2014-15 season and was named the NBA Most Improved Player, the first Bulls player to win the award. He averaged 20.0 points per game that season and followed it with a career-best 23.9 points per game in 2016-17. His scoring highlights in Chicago included a 53-point game against the Philadelphia 76ers in January 2016 and a 52-point game against the Charlotte Hornets in January 2017.

The Bulls traded Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the day of the 2017 NBA draft. Playing alongside Karl-Anthony Towns and under former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, Butler helped Minnesota improve to a 47-35 record and reach the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. He missed part of the season after undergoing surgery for a right knee meniscus injury.

Butler requested a trade before the 2018-19 season and was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in November 2018. He joined Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons on a team that reached the second round of the playoffs. In the decisive seventh game against the Toronto Raptors, Butler tied the score with a layup late in the fourth quarter before Philadelphia lost on Kawhi Leonard's buzzer-beating shot.

Butler joined the Miami Heat in a sign-and-trade deal in 2019. In his first season with the team, he helped Miami reach the NBA Finals, where the Heat lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. In Game 3 of that series, Butler recorded 40 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists, becoming the third player in NBA Finals history to post a 40-point triple-double.

He led the NBA in steals during the 2020-21 regular season and set a Miami franchise record with three consecutive triple-doubles. In the 2021-22 playoffs, he scored 47 points against the Boston Celtics in a conference finals elimination game, although Miami lost the series in seven games.

Butler's strongest postseason run came in 2023. He scored a Miami playoff-record 56 points against the Milwaukee Bucks and averaged 37.6 points per game in the series as the eighth-seeded Heat eliminated the top-seeded Bucks. Miami then defeated the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, with Butler receiving the conference finals MVP award, before losing the NBA Finals to the Denver Nuggets in five games. A knee injury kept him out of Miami's first-round playoff series in 2024.

After requesting a trade from Miami in January 2025 and receiving three team suspensions, Butler was traded to the Golden State Warriors in February. He made his Warriors debut against the Chicago Bulls and recorded 25 points in a 132-111 victory. He later posted his first triple-double for Golden State, finishing with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Butler scored 38 points in the Warriors' 2025 play-in victory over the Memphis Grizzlies and helped the team defeat the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. Golden State's postseason ended in the Western Conference semifinals against Butler's former team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. On January 19, 2026, Butler tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and underwent surgery, ending his season.

Butler represented the United States at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where the team won the gold medal. He missed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics because of fatigue and was not included on the final 12-player roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

He is a fan of country and emo music and appeared in music videos for Luke Bryan's "Light It Up" and Fall Out Boy's "So Much (for) Stardust." During the NBA bubble, he operated Big Face Coffee from his hotel room before formally launching the coffee brand. Butler also appeared in the Netflix documentary series Starting 5, which followed his 2023-24 season alongside Anthony Edwards, LeBron James, Domantas Sabonis, and Jayson Tatum.