Saturday night when Jimmy Butler laces his shoes up and slips on a fresh Golden State Warriors #10 jersey, it’ll be the fifth NBA team he’s suited up for over his 14-year career. And he’ll be doing it in Chicago, the place his career started, when the Bulls drafted him #30 overall in the 1st round of the 2011 draft.
Ah yes, Chicago, the birthplace of Butler’s hardwood heroics and that pesky “locker room cancer” narrative. Let’s dive into this fascinating case study of perception vs. reality, starting with the Chicago situation that first painted Butler as basketball’s most misunderstood character actor.