Jimmy Butler put together a pretty good showing in the 2017-18 season, averaging 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists. He was rewarded with honors like nominations on the All-Defensive Second Team, All-NBA Third Team, and an All-Star nod as well. While most pundits began considering him as one of the best forwards in the league, a particular analyst from The Sun thought otherwise and left him out of a top 10 players list for the 2018-19 season.
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As one can expect, this snub got Butler extremely angry.
Unfortunately, Butler’s former teammate Darius Johnson-Odom had to bear the brunt of Butler’s outburst prompted by the news. As he revealed in a podcast appearance on Jefe Island, the Timberwolves star vented his frustration during a game of “ones” that they played.
“The top 10 list had came out or something like that that morning… I think Jimmy was like 12th or something at this time… Jimmy’s like, ‘Man, I’m better than him’. I don’t know exactly what player that he was talking about,” Johnson-Odom recollected.
However, Johnson-Odom made the fatal mistake of disagreeing with Butler regarding the latter’s opinion about being better than the player that made the list. This undoubtedly accentuated the then T-Wolves star’s anger.
Darius revealed that Jimmy was allowing him to score initially during the one-on-one contest. After he scored 3 points, Butler flipped the switch and started to dominate the battle. Eventually, Jimmy Buckets won 7-3.
“So the first spot he literally let me shoot…This man let me, playing the seven, he let me shoot literally the first three spots…”
Johnson-Odom then said that Butler eventually came to him and said, “Let’s play for real now.” “But Jimmy…had a vein popping out of his neck like he was Hulk,” the 34-year-old added.
“I can’t get to none of my moves…He’s [Butler] scoring on some pump fake fade, he dribble pump fake fade. I’m like all right that was tough like Jimmy, you can’t shoot. He was like ‘I can shoot man’. That man beat me seven spots to three,” Darius said.
” [Butler] made me feel like I was a kid. I couldn’t get to nothing,” he added.
Even though Johnson-Odom played no games for the Wolves, he was part of the team’s practice. Hence, the 6ft 2” guard does have several anecdotes from Butler’s infamous team practice outburst.
Butler’s iconic practice battle against the Wolves’ starting lineup
In 2018, Butler spent the starting few months representing the Minnesota Timberwolves. After playing 10 games, he was acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers.
When details of this ugly split came out, one iconic story from a team practice session caught everyone’s attention. During a scrimmage, Butler didn’t team up with the fellow starters of the team. Instead, he played alongside the reserves & two-way players and would go on to defeat Karl-Anthony Towns and Co.
Numerous members present for this practice have spoken about it. Darius Johnson-Odom shared his version of the story on the same podcast.
“They break the huddle. Jimmy say, ‘I got an hour’…Man, he go crazy. One play, I remember he switched on KAT. He made KAT pass the ball out. Jimmy rotate to the next man, then he gets the steal. Man, Jimmy say, ‘Man, y’all need me!’”
This incident did have an adverse effect on his relationship with the front office and his teammates. This incident is regarded as the tipping point for the organization to pull the trigger on the blockbuster trade, sending Jimmy Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers.
