Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler has been banned from a poker show called “Hustler Casino Live” due to his allegedly “rude” behavior during an appearance on the show back in June.
A clip surfaced of the show’s co-owner Nick Vertucci providing some context on what exactly happened and announcing that Butler isn’t welcome back.
What happened with Jimmy Butler’s appearance on @HCLPokerShow pic.twitter.com/Rj9tIPfvLP
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) August 13, 2024
“He was rude to everybody,” Vertucci said of Butler. “He wasn’t just rude to me. He was rude to the whole staff. … I don’t want him back.”
Vertucci explained that Butler acted like a “prima donna” before he started playing, which was okay, but that Butler was particularly difficult when he started to join the action. According to Vertucci, Butler didn’t understand everything that was going on, which caused the Heat star to become “tilted.”
According to Vertucci, Butler later got up and started yelling. Vertucci said he came up to Butler and touched his arm to ask him if there was anything he could do for him, to which Butler responded, “Yeah, first thing is get your hand off my f—— arm.”
Vertucci said he walked away after he and Butler started to exchange words about money. He added that Butler referred to himself as “the real one.”
“I don’t care how many viewers he brings,” Vertucci said. “I don’t want him back.”
He also added that Butler brought a group of people with him and that his people had their phones out to film. According to Vertucci, Butler then took out $100 bills and started handing them to the people he brought in order to capture it on video, and Vertucci theorized that the people were going to give Butler his money back later.
Lastly, Vertucci added that a younger individual, probably around 22 years old, was there and wanted to talk to Butler. According to Vertucci, Butler did talk to the individual but did so “begrudgingly” and “wasn’t very kind.”
It’s worth noting that only one side of the story is available here, as Butler hasn’t given his perspective.
Butler has developed a reputation as someone who is extremely competitive. After the Heat lost to the Boston Celtics in the opening round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, Butler was seen trolling the Celtics as well as the New York Knicks, and Heat president Pat Riley didn’t approve of the 34-year-old’s decision.
This is the exact Pat Riley quote on Jimmy Butler that has caught fire on Twitter: "If you're not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut on the criticism of those teams."
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) May 6, 2024
While Butler has drawn some controversy over the years for talking trash, if it weren’t for his competitive nature, the Heat might not have been able to reach the NBA Finals as recently as 2023.
In the 2022-23 season, Miami became just the second No. 8 seed in the history of the league — along with the 1999 iteration of the Knicks — to reach the championship series, and he was one of the best players in the NBA during the 2023 NBA Playoffs. In 22 playoff games with the Heat, he averaged 26.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.8 steals per contest.
But the Heat came up short of a title, as the team lost to the Denver Nuggets — led by Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray — in five games. And after an individual playoff run for the ages, Butler didn’t so much as appear in a playoff game for Miami during the team’s short stint in the 2024 NBA Playoffs due to injury.
Butler suffered an MCL injury in the Heat’s play-in loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Without Butler, Miami lost to the Celtics — who went on to capture the 2024 title — in a gentleman’s sweep in the first round.
Perhaps the fact that Butler is no longer welcome at the poker show will convince him to tone down his trash-talking in the future.
