Jimmy Butler has rubbed many in the NBA world the wrong way with his recent antics and Kevin Garnett is one of them. On the latest episode of the Ticket and The Truth podcast, Garnett went off on Butler for being unprofessional and stated his behavior could lead to non-guaranteed contracts in the future.
“This is how non-guarantees are going to come into our league, right here, for s*** like this,” Garnett said. “We f**king fought our a** off through five or six god damn lockouts to get to a point where we protect the integrity of the talent. And then that talent has a responsibility to be professional, come in here and do your f***ing job.
“You think I like Glen Taylor? You think I like that motherf***er? You think Paul like Wyc (Grousbeck) at one point when they weren’t seeing eye to eye? We came in, we did our f***ing jobs, you got paid and you went home,” Garnett continued. “You go home, soon as you get the opportunity to change that, you change it.
“But bro ain’t finna come in here, make a mockery, become a distraction to the other guys in here,” Garnett added. “Because bro that’s what you’re doing.”
Garnett certainly had his differences with Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor but that didn’t stop him from being professional. He gave it his all in his 14 seasons with the franchise and is loved by the fans for that.
Butler, meanwhile, has seemingly burned every bridge in Miami. He was first suspended by the Miami Heat for seven games over multiple instances of conduct detrimental to the team and later for two games for missing a team flight.
Butler was then suspended indefinitely for walking out of a team practice after learning that he was going to be benched for Haywood Highsmith. The 35-year-old clearly felt disrespected, but the team probably figured he wasn’t going to give his best on the court anyway.
In the three games Butler played since getting suspended for the first time, he averaged 13.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 0.7 blocks. The six-time All-Star is capable of doing so much more and Garnett certainly would have taken a different approach if he was in the same position.
“If you want to make a statement, come out and get 50,” Garnett stated. “If I was Jimmy Butler, I would’ve came out, I would’ve had 50,” Garnett said. “And been screaming at the top of lungs all these Heat fans, ‘Yeah, I ain’t signing here next year.’ Came out, got another 50.”
In an ideal world, Butler would have given it his all on the court and acted professionally off it. He has done the exact opposite and you doubt he has much regret over how he has acted.
Butler wants out and doesn’t care how bad of a look it is for him. There are just a few days left for the Feb. 6 trade deadline, however, and you wonder if a move will materialize with so little time. The Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors have been the two teams heavily linked to him and it will be interesting to see if either is able to pull off a trade.
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