Father’s Defiant Stance For Jimmy Butler’s Growth Revealed as Touching Tribute In Warriors Win Emerges

Last night, the Warriors were back on business. The Bay Area visited Chicago and decimated the Bulls with a commanding win. The team had a new zeal in their performance and all the credit goes to the Big Face, Jimmy Butler. Without a doubt, the star forward was the missing piece. As a result, Stephen Curry was draining threes with an unusual amount of space around him, and Jimmy did some flashy rim job. While it seemed all happy and chirpy at the Warriors, there’s an emotional story behind this success.

Well, every serious performance has a potent driving force behind it. Jimmy Buckets had one too. He carried his late father’s legacy up his sleeve, and he did so in style. We all have seen Jimmy Butler donning the #22 for the Heat for so long but for the Warriors, he went with #10.

Last night, when we took a look at the number behind his back, there was something more to it. There were three stripes near his name. Taking a closer look, I found that it was “Butler III”. We’ve never seen him don a jersey in that fashion.

As we closely look for answers, a reporter rightly asked Butler at the post-game presser. He said, “It was actually a year today of the passing of my father. So, this was big for me. To change it I realize I’m his son.” It was a warm gesture from the star to honor his late father, Jimmy Butler Jr.

The 6x NBA All-Star lost his father last year to terminal illness. Through the 2023-24 season, Butler missed plenty of games, citing personal reasons. No one knew it until the latest Netflix documentary, Starting 5, dropped. The series showed how much role Jimmy’s father played in his son’s greatness. And Last night’s performance was a snippet of it.

How did Jimmy Butler’s dad help him achieve greatness?

We have seen plenty of father-son stories of our beloved NBA stars. Recently, Ja Morant‘s dad revealed how he made his work hard to get the bounce of his feet which he’s rocking the world right now. Similarly, there’s an emotional yet thumping story behind how Jimmy Butler’s father ignited the ‘Big dawg’ attitude (if we can say so) in his son.

In the opening minute of the fifth episode, Jimmy Butler‘s voice-over narrates how championed the game of dominoes. “One of my earliest memories with my dad, we would go to the hood. I just remember always playing dominoes,” said Butler. Imagine a kid, 5-6 years old, playing dominoes against the big men. Yes, let your imagination run. 

“He would always pick me to be his partner, and we’re playing against grown folk. And the grown folk would be like, ‘No he can’t play’,” continued Butker. Of course, if I wanted to win, I wouldn’t team up with my young son. But that wasn’t the case for Jimmy Butler Jr. He was preparing his son for the tough fight that he will have to face in the future. In response to those grown folks, Father Jimmy said, “Yeah, that’s who I want as my partner.” And the end result was, Jimmy Buckets saying, “I’m the greatest to ever hold a set of dominoes. But it’s coz of pop,” 30 years later.