A former NBA player says Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler once got into a “crazy” argument in the locker room with then-Chicago Bulls’ head coach, Fred Hoiberg.
Former NBA player Michael Carter-Williams, who played for the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls, recounted the argument between Butler and Hoiberg on a podcast by Bucks forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo called The Thanalysis Show, saying it occurred during the “craziest” season he played in.
“You know his personality,” Carter-Williams said of Butler. He described the locker room argument he witnessed between Butler, then a Bulls player, and Hoiberg as “crazy. Nobody knew what to say. They (Butler and Hoiberg) just popped off crazy like that like right away.”
He said Hoiberg started a team meeting by saying, “‘Jimmy, this starts with me and you. What’s going on?'” Carter-Williams said that Butler responded, “One, I think you’re soft. Two, I don’t like you.”
Hoiberg responded, “F*** you, Jimmy,” Carter-Williams said, leading Butler to respond, “Oh, so now it’s f*** me. You wanted to know how I felt.”
Hoiberg coached the Bulls for three full seasons, according to the University of Nebraska, where he is now head coach. Four-time NBA All-Star Butler is today a forward for the Miami Heat, according to NBA.com. He was “selected in the first round (30th overall) of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls,” NBA.com reports.
“That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in the locker room,” Carter-Williams said.
Michael Carter-Williams Says the Argument Occurred After the Chicago Bulls Lost 3 Games in a Row & Everyone Was ‘P*****’
Carter-Williams praised Butler before describing the “crazy” argument.
“I love Jimmy, Jimmy’s a great dude, but this is crazy,” Carter-Williams said on the podcast, speaking at about 1:02, on the interaction between Butler and Hoiberg.
“Our locker room was bad. It was right in the beginning of the year too. It was like our first three games that we lost. Everybody was p***** off, upset. Jimmy wasn’t getting along with Coach Hoiberg. We had a team meeting early. We had a team meeting right off the rip. Everyone’s in the locker room. Everyone’s silent.”
Michael Carter-Williams Said Chicago Was the ‘Craziest Season’ He Was Ever Involved In
GettyFred Hoiberg and Jimmy Butler.
Carter-Williams said he had seen some of the “wildest situations,” so many “crazy things” that had happened. Asked the most crazy thing he had ever seen, Carter-Williams said “Chicago” was the “craziest season I’ve ever been a part of.”
“Everybody was p***** off. Jimmy wasn’t getting along with Coach Hoiberg. We had a team meeting,” Carter-Williams said.
He said the team meeting included the “whole squad” including all of the coaches. Hoiberg said, “‘What’s going on” to Butler.”
The previous game the referees were “terrible. Jimmy got attacked,” Carter-Williams said. He said Butler was upset.
Carter-Williams said the Hoiberg-Butler dispute started right at the beginning of the team meeting, and he said he was sitting in the corner because he had never heard such a thing happen before in a locker room. The assistant coaches were saying “Oh, my gosh” in the background, he said.
Jessica McBride is a news, sports, and entertainment reporter covering breaking news, politics sports, entertainment, and crime for Heavy. She is a former reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Waukesha Freeman newspapers in Wisconsin and is a senior journalism instructor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. More about Jessica McBride
