While it may be the biggest basketball league in the world, the NBA is a business at the end of the day. Every team is out there competing to win a championship, and the same can be said about the players. Jimmy Butler and the Chicago Bulls felt the brunt of the same in 2016.
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Having given Butler a 5-year, $92 Million contract in 2015, the Bulls couldn’t get the result they would’ve hoped for. Butler wasn’t happy with his teammates and their lack of efforts, and was complaining a lot about the same. This, in turn, led to the relationships to deteriorate between Jimmy and the front office.
In 2017, they traded Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the offseason. In turn, the Bulls acquired Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and a first-round pick. While there is nothing unusual about the trade, the way Jimmy found out about the same is quite hilarious.
Jimmy Butler was winning in Spades when he learned about his trade
During the summer of 2017, Jimmy Butler was in Paris with a few friends. He was there in for Paris Fashion Week with Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union, and Carmelo Anthony.
Later, they were all enjoying a game of spades when Butler got a call from his agent. He described the whole thing on his time on the Bill Simmons Podcast.
“I was in Paris, the night that it happened,” Butler said. “We were playing some cards — me, Melo, Gab, D-Wade. I’m not going to talk about the outcome of the game because everybody has a different story, obviously.
“… And my agent called me, and he said, ‘Hey, I think you’re about to get moved to Minnesota.’ And I said, ‘OK, cool. I’m going to get back to my spades game.’ Because I can’t really control [a trade]. It’s out of my control. I try to control what I can control. … And then he calls me [again], ‘You just got traded to Minnesota.'”
He also shared the same story in a different interview as well. He shared, “We were beating up on D-Wade and Gab when Lee called. He told me I’m a Minnesota Timberwolf. I’m happy with that, and then we won in spades… It was a win-win all around”
.@JimmyButler (in Paris at the time) on how he learned of the draft-night trade that brought him to Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/VBl9Qh5CrI
— Alan Horton (@WolvesRadio) June 29, 2017
His stint in Minnesota lasted just one year, but that year helped the Wolves make their way to the playoffs after a 13-year draught.
Gabrielle Union described how the Butler trade went down
Gabrielle Union launched her book We’re Going to Need More Wine in 2017. For the same’s promotion, Gab was on ESPN’s SC6. She talked about Dwyane Wade’s relationship with her dad, her position in Wade and LeBron James’ closeness, and more.
Union went on to describe her game of Spades with Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Jimmy Butler. She recalled how Butler got a call in the middle of the game and he came back and said, “I’ve been traded.”
Wade and Gab only asked, “So you don’t want to finish this?”
While Gab blamed the booze for being the weak line, Butler prides over destroying Wade and his beau.
