In this GQ "Actually Me" segment, NBA star Jimmy Butler answers a rapid‑fire series of fan questions sourced from Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms. He reflects on his mindset during the NBA bubble, explaining that he treated the season as a "business trip" and sacrificed personal time for a championship run. Butler recounts the origin of his "Jimmy Buckets" nickname, given by Stacey King before he was a regular scorer. He describes his rise from a 30th‑overall draft pick to an All‑Star, emphasizing hard work, defensive focus, and willingness to do the tasks his team needs. He shares his experience running a makeshift coffee shop in the bubble, the money he earned, and his favorite customer, teammate Goran Dragic. Butler praises coach Erik Spoelstra for his communication and player‑first approach, and he highlights Goran’s humor, Tyler Herro’s work ethic, and his own love for country music, including appearing in Luke Bryan’s video. He mentions his junior‑college background, his lack of tattoos, his desire to play soccer for PSG, his favorite wine (Sassicaia 2010), and his personal GOAT choice (Neymar). Butler also discusses how a championship would affect his legacy, his belief that he could mesh well with James Harden, his admiration for Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift, and his aspiration to learn piano. The segment ends with a brief Spanish sign‑off.
Chapters
What's up, GQ? This is Jimmy Butler, and I'm going undercover on the internet. This is actually me. [MUSIC] I just, this grammar is just incredible to me. First up, Twitter. One of the coolest things about Jimmy Butler in the bubble is that he didn't invite any family members or friends, stating it's a business trip. Rightfully so. I love that. I love that I'm here to work. I love my family. Everybody knows it. I wanna be around them as much as possible. But I think 3 months away the ultimate goal of being a championship. It was the right mindset to have. We didn't reach our goal, which really angers me even more. But it's a business trip. I'm here to work. You know, you have to sacrifice some things. And that's one thing that I knew I had to sacrifice to be locked in to give us the best chance of winning a championship. Business trip. How Jimmy Butler even get the nickname Jimmy Buckets? So many grammatical errors in that, by the way. But moving past that, It's actually weird. Stacey King gave me that nickname easily before I ever scored a basket in the NBA. So the nickname never really made sense. And then I started to score a little bit and it started to come into its own. But Stacey King gave me that in 2011 when I barely played because Tibbs never wanted to play me. And now I guess I score pretty decently. So that's how Jimmy Butler even get the nickname Jimmy Buckets. Seriously. It's actually me. YouTube. How Jimmy become a great player from a 30th pick? What is it, LeBron and me in the Game 5 of the Finals? Literally, like, it sounds so cliché, but hard work and dedication. I like to think that I work really, really hard every day, and I do a lot of stuff that people don't want to do, especially on the basketball court, whether it be playing harder possession or starting the game off just defense or passing the ball. Whatever my team asks of me to do, it's what I've done. So from 30th pick to where I am now, I'm proud of that. I love where I'm at. I'm only gonna continue to get better. Submit more Twitter. Hey Jimmy, what did you make from the bubble coffee shop? What did I make? I think I made about— I'm not gonna tell you the exact number. Somewhere in between $1 and like $6,000, somewhere in between there is about the amount of money I made. But I learned to do cappuccinos, lattes, Obviously pour-overs, Chemexes, all of that good stuff. I really thought that I could dive into being a coffee connoisseur and one day open my own coffee shop. So I learned how to run a business out of a hotel room and how to make all the different types of coffee. Replied. I have to say that my number one customer, it was Goran Dragic, the Dragon. It doesn't really count. He's the only person that never paid for a single cup. Of Big Face Coffee. And the only reason why, 'cause he knew how to get me. He would come into the room and he'd be like, "Hey, how you feeling today? How's your body? Did you watch soccer last night? Oh yeah, Neymar is so good, so good." And then he'd throw in like, "Yo, let me get a cappuccino." And then he'd just keep going. So I thought I figured it out, but he knew how to get me to get to talking. He buttered me up a little bit. Goran, he's in debt to me. Instagram. Oh yeah, Instagram. First off, let's talk about this photo. Tyler in a durag. That's Tyler Herro for you. Jimmy, real talk though. Used a comma, thank you for that. How good of a coach is Erik Spoelstra? Thanks and good luck on winning out. I got so much respect and love for Coach Spo. He is an incredible, phenomenal, all of those words, great coach because he really, really, really believes in his players. He empowers us to do whatever we can and want to do on the floor as long as we playing hard and we're playing together. He just wants to win, man, and he works so hard. He's always studying. He's always in communication with all the coaches, with all the players all the way down the line. He just always give you this, and sometimes it's not even a speech. It could be a look, and it's like, you know what, man? I'm running through a wall for this guy. So, man, Spohs, he's obviously a Hall of Fame coach, but every day he just shows me something new. More YouTube. Who's the funniest player on the team? We got a lot of jokesters. I'mma go with Goran. And the reason I think Goran is so funny is because when he doesn't want to do something, he always acts like he doesn't understand English, but he speaks perfect English. So it's like when you're playing a game like cards or something and he know that he's cheating, he'll play and then be like, "Oh, didn't know, don't understand." And we're like, "Goran, you just cheated. We know that." Anytime he does that, it is the absolute funniest thing in the world to me. So that award goes to Goran. My brate. Replied, more Instagram. Is Tyler in the gym at 4 AM? If he's not, then he's not working hard. He is in the gym at 4 AM. But even if you're not in the gym at 4 AM, that does not mean you're not working hard. But Tyler is a hard worker. I respect him for that, love him for that. He just wants to get better, he wants to compete, he wants to have fun. And more than anything, he wants to win. Like I say to everybody, Tyler's not even my favorite hero. His little brother Miles is. That's my guy. So Miles, Know that I miss you, brother. More Twitter. Have we gotten context for the Jimmy Butler throwing paper away GIF? Lmfao. What was the paper? The paper was a stat sheet. And this was for sure when I was in Minnesota. I got my guy Marcus Georges-Hunt next to me. I remember, I feel like it was KAT. He was like one rebound or one assist away from a triple-double. He's easily going to get this, so I don't even know why I'm looking at it. Crumble it up, throw it in the air, and that's where that came from. It's actually me, TikTok, or how I say it, ticky-tock. Jimmy out here drowning in sunscreen. I remember this, I was singing Luke Combs. Yes, I put on way too much sunscreen, and yes, I have on a life jacket. I should. Yes, I do. Can't swim, and I do not wanna be sunburned, so that's why I got on so much sunscreen. Leave me alone. Next, Wikipedia. Personal life, Butler is a fan of country music and was featured in the music video of the country song "Light It Up" by Luke Bryan. Yeah, Luke's a, Jimmy Butler is a really great friend of mine, a really good buddy, and he just came up with the idea of putting me in a music video. I absolutely love the idea because now I could call myself a video vixen, which I would call myself even if I wasn't in a video, but I do love country music. I am in a music video. I am a video vixen. Butler was not heavily recruited coming out of high school and chose to attend Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas. And I think I still use that as a chip on my shoulder because I feel like nobody thought I was good enough to play at even a minor Division I. Coach Marquis up at TJC, he took a chance on me. I'm very grateful for that. And at TJC is when I became a decent basketball player. JUCO's the way to go. More Twitter. Jimmy Butler, no tattoos? Gotta have one somewhere. I do not. I do not have any tattoos. I was told if I got tattoos, I would get my ass beat, truthfully, so I never got tattoos. I was also told, If I wanted to get my ears pierced, then I had to be afford to wear real diamonds. So as soon as I could afford to get real diamonds, I went and got my ears pierced. No tattoos. I hope that I get my daughter's name tattooed on me one day, but I highly doubt that that happens. Postage. I decided to tweet because football is back. It's me pretending to be a footballer/soccer player. What club would you want to play for? I would definitely have to say PSG. I think if I'm alongside Mbappé, the greatest to ever do it, and Neymar Jr., I feel like they're gonna make me look like I really know what I'm doing out there on the pitch. It should be a battle. I mean, me and Neymar are going head to head for who's gonna wear 10. I don't know, but PSG, that's the way I'm going. Jimmy Butler Iii, can you give us the drop on what type of wine you drink? A lot of different types of wine. I really enjoy wine. I love the conversations that you have with so many different people over wine. But my favorite, which was the first one that I had back in 2013 with Mark Wahlberg, is a Sesakaya 2010. I stick by that. I love Sesakaya. I love Italy, and it was the first one that I got the opportunity to drink, and I don't stray from it too often. I have a lot of different tastes, but I always go back to Sesakaya 2010 in the end. Boom! More YouTube. Jimmy, who is the GOAT to you? If we're talking about sports, we're talking about GOATs, I'm picking Neymar. As everybody knows, I don't even like to talk about basketball. I think I'm a footballer now. So my GOAT— Neymar Jr. Kora. What will an NBA championship do for Jimmy Butler's legacy? A lot. I think that's the reason that anybody plays this game is to win a championship. For my legacy, I think it'd be a big part of it on the floor. That's what a championship would do. But I gotta be remembered for doing more than just on the floor. So I think my legacy will be way more than on the floor. We'll take it to off the floor. Would Jimmy Butler and James Harden play well together? I think so. James is a great player. He does so many things well on the basketball floor. And when you put really good basketball players together, they always find out a way to win. Whether you say their games don't fit each other, nah, I don't believe in that. I believe he's a winner. He wants to win a championship. If we were to end up playing together, we make it work and we find a way to win. Back to YouTube. Is Justin Bieber his new thing? What about his obsession with Taylor Swift? I love music as a whole. I think Justin Bieber Justin Bieber's Purpose album. It's like, if there was a thing that's perfect, I think that album is that. I'm a huge fan of it. I like him too as a person. Taylor Swift can do no wrong. I mean, it's Taylor Swift, so you just leave that there. What is a hobby you want to learn but haven't gotten into yet? Easy. I already have the vocal ability. I got the vocal cords. I can sing. I just need to learn how to play the piano. Maybe the guitar. Nah, I'm gonna go with piano. Yeah, piano. I figure out this piano thing and then keep my vocals at an all-time high, probably see me next to Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift on the pop charts. Thanks for your question, guys. I'm signing off the internet. I will see you next time. [SPEAKING SPANISH]
