He’s an All-Star for the fifth time in his career, the face of a hard-nosed resurgent Heat team that’s 35-19 and back in a city that watched him grow up as a professional and cherishes him more with each passing day as its Bulls continue to flounder.
“It’s incredible,” Butler said at All-Star media availability at Wintrust Arena on Saturday morning. “Chicago fans, they love their teams through the good and the bad obviously. But this is where my NBA career started. I still have homes here. I’m always here during the summertime. I got a lot of love for this city, and I’m so fortunate that this city still has a lot of love for me.
“This community still has a huge impact on me. They embraced a kid when I first got here, helped me grow into becoming the man that I am.”
Butler was 21 was the Bulls drafted him with the final pick of the first round in 2011. He blossomed from being a little-known rookie riding the bench to being a quality role player and then into a star before Chicago traded him to Minnesota in June 2017 to begin an organizational rebuild.
The Bulls (19-36) are still searching for success in a lost third season of their rebuild, which Butler still keeps tabs on from afar and had kind words for Saturday.
“I got faith in management here,” Butler said of the Bulls. “They have to know what they’re doing. I think their decision was right for them. I’ll continue to wish them the best. I think they got some really great young talent. They’ll figure it out. They got nothing but time.”
Asked if he left Chicago at the right time, Butler pointed out he didn’t leave – he was told to leave by virtue of the trade.
“So I guess I got kicked out at the right time,” Butler said.
Butler, 30, appears as happy as he could be in Miami, where he's averaging 20.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.1 assists. The Heat have been appreciative of his hard-driving, sometimes hard-headed approach in a way that the Bulls weren’t by the end of his time in Chicago. Butler is under contract through 2022-’23 in Miami, with the final season being a player option.
But would he ever want to come back and play in Chicago?
“Yeah, of course,” Butler said. “Like, come on. This is Chicago. This is home for me for a long time, still is home for me now. It’s a definite possibility – maybe toward the end of my career. Who knows? We’ll find out when that time gets here.”