During the 2015-16 NBA season, Jimmy Butler didn’t dress with his Chicago Bulls teammates in the locker room and had tense arguments with Joakim Noah.
Derrick Rose revealed these two tidbits in his autobiography called “I’ll Show You,” which was released in 2019.
“Lots of weird stuff was going on, though. I wasn’t sure what it was about, but Jimmy didn’t dress with us. That season he was always dressing with the coaches, didn’t stay in the locker room,” Rose said in his book. “Got to say, I never did see that before. To separate yourself from the team. How the hell do you think we’re a team when that’s going on? Of course, I got the blame. But Jo saw it, he and Jimmy were at it. There was a lot of fracturing.”
It must have been bizarre for Butler’s teammates to watch him dress in a different room. Rose is a quiet, non-confrontational guy, so he likely didn’t call out Butler for his actions.
However, Noah — the heart and soul of those Bulls teams — took issue with Butler and the two got into it on several occasions.
The Bulls went 42-40 in 2015-16 and missed the playoffs despite having Rose, Butler, Noah and Pau Gasol. Chicago traded Rose to the New York Knicks in the summer of 2016 and chose not to re-sign Noah in free agency.
Meanwhile, Butler lasted one more season with the Bulls before getting traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves on draft night in 2017.
During the end of the 2017-18 season, Rose signed with the Timberwolves after getting traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers and waived by the Utah Jazz. Rose reunited with Butler and Tom Thibodeau.
Whatever issues Rose and Butler had in the past were behind them, as the former Bulls stars got along in Minnesota and helped the franchise make the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
Although the Timberwolves lost to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the 2018 playoffs in five games, it was fun to see Rose and Butler play together again.
Butler, now a superstar on the Miami Heat, is said to be on good terms with Noah. Meanwhile, Rose and Butler appear to be brothers once more, as Rose helped Butler get through his trade request with Minnesota during the 2018-19 campaign.
One of the best players in NBA history, Butler has career averages of 18.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists with the Bulls, Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers and Heat. He’s made six All-Star teams, five All-NBA teams and five All-Defensive teams.
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