An ACL tear robbed the world of “Playoff Jimmy” this spring. Instead, music fans at BottleRock in Napa did get a taste of “Festival Jimmy.”
The Golden State Warriors’ injured star looked spry as he joined Teddy Swims on the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage at Bottlerock in Napa. He threw peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to the crowd, seemingly because it was the Culinary Stage,
professed his love for the Bay Area, and even danced to Shaboozey while telling the crowd, “Don’t tell Steve [Kerr]! I got a torn ACL!”
Still, the highlight came when Butler sang a verse of “A Thousand Miles,” the Vanessa Carlton classic that Terry Crews sings in the acclaimed film, “White Chicks.” Butler claimed he’d wanted to sing it since high school, but people didn’t like his voice. That didn’t stop Butler from singing Hootie and the Blowfish in a Michelob Ultra commercial.
He also sang Hall & Oates for Michelob in a commercial that saw him packing for the NBA’s Covid-19 bubble. It’s hard to tell in the low-resolution video, the only one we could find, but it implies that one of the items Butler packed in his single suitcase was his own Miami Heat No. 22 shirsey. Perhaps that was the work uniform for his Big Face Coffee pop-up?
Butler’s musical taste is very eclectic. He discovered country music while a student at Marquette and claims to have written over 60 country songs for a future album, which he envisions taking a “DJ Khaled” role in bringing in multiple other artists. Butler is good friend with Mark Wahlberg, though it’s unclear if that extends to a love for the music of the Funky Bunch.
He’s also not afraid to use music as a weapon. After his Miami Heat dropped a game in overtime in 2023, Butler blasted Nickelback in the locker room, turning the volume way up so Chad Kroeger’s lyrics and voice could punish his teammates for letting him down. Look, it’s possible that Butler’s a fan of the post-grunge Canadian rockers, but it seems more likely that anyone forcing an NBA team to listen to Nickelback is doing it at best as a joke and at worst as malicious ear torture.
It apparently worked, as the 2023 Heat went from the play-in tournament to the NBA Finals, possibly out of fear of a “How You Remind Me” reprise.
Clearly, Butler isn’t letting his rehab bring him down. Just don’t tell his coach about all the dancing.
