The first Marquette basketball player to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame is Dwyane Wade. He anticipates soon having company.
After playing with the Heat for 13 seasons, Wade and Butler played together for the 2016–17 Chicago Bulls. The two combined for a 41-41 record for a Bulls squad that was in transition and waved goodbye to Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Taj Gibson that season. Wade and Butler left the same year, too.
After Wade’s retirement in 2019, Butler eventually made it to Miami. Wade didn’t think much of Butler when he first met him, but he is now a tremendous fan.
“I didn’t really think nothing of Jimmy like that,” said Wade, who participated in summer scrimmages with Marquette players, said. Even when Butler was selected by the Bulls in 2011 as the No. 30 pick, Wade “didn’t think he was going to be that good.”
Wade and Butler never spoke even after Butler made it to the NBA, largely because of coach Tom Thibodeau, who disliked the Miami Heat and banned his players from making friends with them.
“We were taught to hate y’all and hate everything about the Miami Heat,” Butler told Wade. “And I see why. Y’all used to beat our a-s on a regular basis.”
Wade wasn’t the only person to question Butler. He was selected 29 players before him in the draft. In 2017, Chicago gave up on him and traded him. In 2019, Philadelphia traded Butler for Josh Richardson and salary-cap space, choosing Ben Simmons instead of Butler.
However, after moving to Miami, Butler has guided the Heat to two NBA Finals, and they also just missed reaching it in 2022.
Butler won Most Improved Player in 2015 and was a four-time All-Star before joining Miami, but he was not expected to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. As a result of his playoff success and the rise of “Playoff Jimmy,” Butler now virtually seems a lock for the Hall of Fame. Your reputation will benefit greatly from conceding 56 points in a playoff game and leading a No. 8 seed to the Finals.
Butler, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to care about nicknames or the Hall of Fame.
Butler ought to eventually join Wade in the Hall. He’ll just be hooping until then.