By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Jimmy Butler’s debut with the Golden State Warriors couldn’t have been much better.
In his first game with his new team, Butler scored 25 points on 7 out of 12 shots and 11 out of 13 free throws to help the Warriors rout the Chicago Bulls 132-11.
Butler hadn’t played a game January 21 since the Miami Heat had suspended him for a third time for a “continued pattern of disregard of team rules.” The 35-year-old six-time All-Star forward had mentioned that he wouldn’t be able to find any joy in the game with the Heat again and was waiting to be moved to another team.
“I knew I was going somewhere, whether they were sending me to Flamengo down in Brazil,” he said. He had repeatedly stated that he wants to join Flamengo after his NBA career is over. “But I’m glad that it is here [with the Warriors]. I am grateful to be able to play basketball for a top organization like this one.”
Butler needed a team outside of Miami to continue and the Warriors needed a veteran player like him to pair with Steph Curry on the floor.
“They say opposites attract in a lot of ways in life,” Butler said on becoming Curry’s teammate “I don’t think I could be a better complement to him and vice versa. They’re not leaving him ever. Probably two people would never leave him. There’s so much space for everybody else. I get the easy job. I’m playing one-on-one or in so much space.”