Jimmy Butler recently made an appearance on teammate J.J. Redick's "The J.J. Redick Podcast" to discuss his fallout with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
During their discussion, Butler addressed when he demanded a trade, why he didn't play during the pre-season, and the infamous October practice session that led to the trade with Philadelphia.
Speaking of the practice, Butler says he has a "real problem with authority," and his fuse was lit once someone told him 'You're gonna practice.'
As Butler described to Redick (H/T The Ringer):
"It's not really heated [with Wolves management]. We're literally just talking, and then somebody says: 'You're gonna practice.' Now, first of all, I have a for-real problem with authority. When somebody’s telling me what to do as a grown man, I have a problem with it. So now you done lit the match, but ain’t nothin’ on fire yet. You just lit the match.
"I was like: 'First of all, you're not going to tell me what I’m gonna do. If I choose to practice, I'll choose to practice.' And I’m like: 'Nah, I don't know just yet.' And then he was like: 'No, you're gonna practice.' Now you’re getting that fire a little too close to me, so I’m like: 'Let me tell you something, if I'm going to practice, I'll come off the bench, like I’ll play with this second group if I want to as long as I’m out there in practice.' Boom.
"This person goes: 'No, you're gonna play with the starters.' There you go. You did got me now. No I'm not. I'm gonna play with the third-stringers, now what? I'm telling them I don't think it's a good idea to do it, because I know whenever I go in there, I'm trying to basically just prove a point."
Additionally, Butler confirmed that he did, in fact, dominant the practice as had been reported - but noted that he only shot the ball one time during the whole scrimmage.
The Sixers are 11-3 since acquiring Butler, who is averaging 19.8 points in Philly thus far. Through 28 games this season the Sixers are 19-9 and have won eight of their last 10.