“Worked His A** Off”: Bulls Legend Recounts a Heroic Moment Against Carmelo Anthony to Crown Jimmy Butler as “Toughest Competitor”

Elite mentality, clutch performances, and a hunger for success. These words perfectly describe Jimmy Butler, who led his team to the 2023 NBA Finals a few months ago. Butler wasn’t like the other players who were blessed with natural talent and were picked really high in the NBA draft. The NBA superstar worked his way up the pecking order and a former Chicago Bulls star recently revealed the moment everyone knew Jimmy was special.

Talking on the Pardon My Take podcast, Joakim Noah talked about the time a young Butler had to guard NBA legend, Carmelo Anthony.

A rookie Jimmy Butler locked by Carmelo Anthony

Butler was the 30th pick during the 2011 NBA draft coming out of Marquette. During the 2011-12 NBA season, the Bulls took on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. One Bulls player was injured. Rookie Jimmy Butler was called upon by the coach with a huge task. He had to guard Carmelo Anthony! 

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On the Pardon My Take podcast, Joakim Noah revealed that this moment established Butler as a certified blockbuster of a player. “You know, Jimmy is probably the toughest competitor I’ve ever been around. It started right away. He wasn’t playing in the beginning and he had that big game in the Garden, he had to guard Melo. The rest of the game and we ended up winning the game with young Jimmy rookie and I think that gave him a lot of confidence”, said Noah.

He further revealed, “He [Butler] worked his a** off and the sacrifices he made during the summer was unbelievable. People don’t know this but he was going the whole summer no TV!” While Butler was just a rookie, Melo Anthony was at the absolute peak of his powers. The 10-time NBA All-Star averaged 22.6 points that season and he won the NBA scoring title the following season.

Butler’s stint with the Bulls came to an unfortunate end

The 6-time NBA All-Star played 5 seasons with the Bulls. He made the playoffs 4 out of 5 seasons and fans thought that this was the start of something special. However, off-court issues marred the latter half of his time in Chicago. Reports revealed that he didn’t gel with the head coach and  he had also made some questionable public comments about the coach. 

His time came to an end in 2017 when the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals MVP was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Bulls recieved Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and a draft pick in return.

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What is your favorite moment of Jimmy Butler? Let us know in the comments below.