34-year-old Jimmy Butler baller has had an eventful 13-season-long career in the NBA world. In this illustrious career, the star forward has almost grabbed the NBA title twice. Moreover, he is known for his fierce and competitive nature on the court. However, off the court, Butler has an entirely different persona, humorous and jovial. The Miami Heat star’s Instagram is the standing proof for and at the same time, it’s the main reason behind exploring the star’s background.

Jimmy Butler took to his IG stories and dropped a train of stories from a pickleball court. It included pictures of the star and his friends playing the sport along with an interesting video. In that video, 6x NBA All-Star, posing for a group picture, said, “Vamos España,” which meant, “Come on, Spain!” While there isn’t clarity on Jimmy’s current location, an IG post from Reserve Padel, a sports facility shared a picture of Butler playing pickleball in LA, a few days ago.

Even though Jimmy Butler hailed Spain in his IG story, the star was born and bred on American soil. He was born to Jimmy Butler II and Londa Butler on September 14, 1989, in Houston, Texas. However, the Heat forward didn’t have an easy childhood growing up in Texas. Jimmy’s father abandoned him with his mother at a very young age. Following that, his mother Londa took care of him until the age of 13 and forced him to leave the house. In an interview with ESPN, Butler revealed that “You gotta go,” were the last words that he ever heard from his mother.

Following that, he took shelter from various friends’ houses until one of his friends’ mothers, Michelle Lambert, took him in permanently. Speaking of her in the same interview, he said, “I give her the credit for helping me become who I am. I love her.”

“I am half-Brazilian” – Jimmy Butler

While it’s clarified that Butler doesn’t have any connection with Spain, he sure does have a connection with a country that speaks Spanish. Even though the majority of Brazil’s population speaks Portuguese, there are a few sections of the population who speak Spanish. Anyway, it’s just an attempt to forcefully co-relate the two events.

Nevertheless, the question is, did Butler really say that he was a half-Brazilian? Yes, he did and it’s because of his love for soccer superstar Neymar Jr. In an interview with GQ, Butler expressed his wish to play for Flamengo, a soccer club in Rio de Janeiro, after his NBA retirement. Speaking of it, he said, “I really do want to play for Flamengo. I tell everybody, I’m half-Brazilian.”

Butler and Neymar have been truly close amigos for a long time and the fans can often witness it on social media, where the duo can be seen pulling each other’s legs. The Soccer star speaking of their friendship said, “Very special to me. Jimmy has a big heart. Our friendship is based on sincerity and honesty. He is shy and at the same time, his fun side is what makes him different.” However, to clear things up, once again, Jimmy Butler is from the United States of America.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.