Jimmy Butler likes to spend his basketball downtime doing non-basketball stuff. Thus, it doesn’t make a difference, even with the FIBA World Cup in full swing.
In a short interaction with Serbian sports journalist Sasha Ozmo, the Miami Heat superstar was in his usual jovial self. Ozmo was covering the ongoing US Open and stumbled upon Butler. The journalist asked the six-time NBA All-Star what he thinks about the FIBA World Cup. Butler’s reply?
“I don’t care about the World Cup!”
Here’s the entire exchange translated into English, as detailed by Ozmo.
“I’m from Serbia, the country of basketball, just a few words about the World Cup.” I tried to apply the same style that once succeeded with Steve Kerr – ah, it was a good interview.
He approached me thinking I wanted a photo, and I simultaneously turned on the recorder and explained that I wanted a statement.
“I’m not making any statements here,” he said politely.
I wasn’t so lucky with Butler, but…
“I don’t care about the World Cup!”
“That’s enough for me,” I laughed, as did a few security guys, and he was having fun too.
Sasha Ozmo on his interaction with Jimmy Butler at the US Open
That’s basically Butler in a nutshell. He has always been the personification of “I don’t care.” The 6-foot-7 forward was one of the biggest snubs for the 2023 All-Star game, but he didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he deflected praise to teammate Bam Adebayo and said he was happy “to get a vacation.”
Jimmy Buckets averaged 22.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.8 steals on a career-high 54% clip from the field last season. He led Miami to an improbable run in the postseason. The No. 8 Heat ousted the first-seed Milwaukee Bucks in Round 1 and the No. 2 Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. As a result, the team became the first eight-seed to reach the NBA Finals since the 1999 New York Knicks.
The Heat’s resurgence was mainly due to Butler’s stellar play. He averaged 26.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 1.8 steals in 22 postseason games in 2023.
