NEW YORK – Jimmy Butler, the Miami Heat forward, has never been concerned with what anyone thinks of him.
He blasts country music in the Heat’s locker room, irritating most of his teammates. He started his own pandemic-era coffee company, initially charging US$20 (S$27.40) a cup.
But he also is a ferocious competitor, and he pledged on Monday that he would lead the Heat back to the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals this season.
“This time we’re going to win it,” he said.
Butler made this bold declaration at the team’s media day. But nothing he said seemed to matter as much as what he wore. He appeared to have pierced his eyebrow, lip and nose, and his hair had a long straightened fringe.
The 34-year-old seemed to have found inspiration in a different musical genre.
“I’m emo,” he said as he brushed his bangs across his forehead. “This is my emotional state. I’m at one with my emotions, so this is what you get.”
Before the start of last season, he showed up in dreadlocks, which he claimed at the time were his real hair. (They were not.) Butler typically has his hair in braids or styled in an Afro taper fade.
In other words, he enjoys being a provocateur. And he appeared to acknowledge as much on Monday during a photo shoot with his teammate Bam Adebayo, who was flummoxed by Butler’s facial piercings.
“The whole lip ring is annoying,” Adebayo told him.
“Look,” Butler said, “I’ve got to stay in character.”
Intentional or not, his appearance helped to distract from questions about the three-time NBA champions’ muted off-season.
In addition to losing two key players to free agency – Gabe Vincent and Max Strus – Miami were unable to swing a deal for Damian Lillard, a superstar point guard the Heat had coveted but who has since joined the Milwaukee Bucks.
It is probably worth noting that Butler was not pleased with that turn of events, and his self-described emo look could have had something to do with his feelings about the Lillard situation – or not.
With Butler, it is impossible to know – not even his teammates know.
“If this is a phase he’s going through at 34, you have to let him go through his phases,” Adebayo said. “We all go through our emo phases.”
A six-time NBA All-Star, Butler is as talented as he is inscrutable. He values his privacy. He seldom discusses his personal life, though he does offer glimpses.
On Monday, for example, he spoke about his friendship with Irish musician Dermot Kennedy and about how much he enjoyed visiting China this summer as part of a promotion tour for Chinese sports brand Li-Ning.
“I got to sing a lot of karaoke, which means the world to me,” he said, “because I don’t get to do that often here.”
Getting down to business, he also expressed optimism about the season ahead. Last season, the Heat, who had barely made the play-offs, engineered upset after upset before losing to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals.
“It’s always been about a championship for me, nothing else,” Butler said.
On Tuesday, he arrived for the team’s first official practice of the season with his hair back in braids.
But fear not – he posed as #EmoJimmy in his official headshot for the season, meaning that glorious hair will soon make an appearance on arena screens when the campaign starts. NYTIMES
