Jimmy Butler Breaks Down How Playing Padel is Helping Him Sharpen His Game for the NBA Season

There are some NBA players whom we know little about other than what they can do on the hardwood. They keep to themselves, focus on their craft, and never let the fans and media see more than is absolutely necessary. Then there’s Jimmy Butler, who has never been shy about sharing his many varied passions.

Butler is a modern Renaissance man. He loves to travel, he owns his own coffee company, and he even starred in a music video with Fall Out Boy. Jimmy Buckets is a guy whose interests extend far beyond basketball. We’ve often see him hanging with his good buddy Neymar Jr., cheering on his other friends Lando Norris and Carlos Alcaraz.

Butler was traded from the Heat to the Warriors at last year’s trade deadline, and he’s hoping to help Steph Curry and company make a run in the Western Conference this upcoming season. His arrival in February instantly jump-started the Dubs, but a scary fall in the playoffs against the Rockets limited his impact in the rest of the postseason.

Before the season gets underway next month, Butler joined CNBC’s Power Lunch to talk about one of his newest passions, the sport of padel. Padel is huge in Miami, where Butler spent the past 5+ seasons, and growing throughout the rest of the country and world.

Butler has invested heavily in the sport, and he called into CNBC from Spain, where he was the honorary chairman of the Reserve Cup, a prestigious tournament that featured the best padel players in the world.

More than just an investment opportunity, Butler said that padel is something that can help him as a basketball player. “I get to be better on the basketball court because of this,” he said. “I like to play so many different sports to train for whatever upcoming season. This is another one.”

He then went on to detail all the ways padel helps him on the court. “Hand-eye coordination, reflexes, being able to pivot when the ball comes off the wall,” he said. “All the movement, all the conditioning that you do.”

The Warriors no doubt want and need Butler to stay healthy if they’re going to be true contenders this year, but he made it clear that although he loves the sport, he’s not doing anything that could risk his health by playing.

“I’m not going super hard, OK?” he said. “Yes I do play, I’m not going all out, I’m not trying to hit the ball out of the arena, I’m not trying to run out the sides and hit it back in, but I do like to pretend that I’m a pro. I would like to pretend that one time soon I’m gonna be ranked No. 1 in the world.”

Butler has never lacked for confidence, and that’s good news for the Warriors as they get ready to mount another run. The team has been waiting on a resolution to the Jonathan Kuminga saga, but whichever way that goes, the core of Curry, Butler, and Draymond Green will give Steve Kerr’s club a fighting chance against anybody.