NBA media day is, for probably the most half, a comparatively quiet affair. Everybody talks, however few say or do a lot of notice. We hear about how everyone seems to be in the very best form of their life, how effectively their offseason went and the way excited they’re for what’s to return. However on stability, it is among the many duller notable dates on the NBA’s commonplace calendar. That is what made Jimmy Butler’s ongoing coiffure bit so amusing.
Butler sometimes wears his hair in commonplace, brief braids. When he arrived at media day in 2022, nonetheless, he had grown his hair out into for much longer dreadlocks. A yr later, he arrived as Emo Jimmy, with straightened hair and an eyebrow piercing.
Butler did not preserve these seems into the season, however he did not must. The photographs gamers tackle media day are used for promotional pictures all through the season. These footage had been successfully Butler’s picture for the season by which they had been taken, and it grew to become a joke that followers regarded ahead to main into each media day. What would Butler do in 2024? A mohawk? A mullet? Some web websites even provided odds with solutions as loopy as a Jimmy Neutron hairdo.
On Monday, the second of reality lastly arrived and… Butler regarded like his regular self.
Whereas followers are certainly disenchanted with Butler’s comparatively tame selection, it is smart why he’d take the protected route. Butler is in a contract yr, as he can turn out to be a free agent subsequent summer time by a participant possibility. Warmth president Pat Riley has spoken publicly about Butler needing to be extra accessible if he’s going to get a contract extension, and whereas he didn’t expressly touch upon Butler’s hair, displaying as much as media day wanting regular is an indication that he is all enterprise this season. “I am right here,” Butler mentioned. “No shenanigans.” He added that his journey plans — Butler’s flight from Paris to Miami on Monday was delayed — sophisticated issues.
Whereas it is not fairly the identical, we did get at the very least one different enjoyable hair determination to assist us recover from Butler’s extra conventional look. Golden State Warriors ahead Jonathan Kuminga confirmed as much as media day with bleached blonde hair:
Maybe the torch has been handed from one wing to the subsequent, however both manner, Butler’s determination to not proceed the pattern was a disappointment to followers who had come to anticipate it.
