Reminder That Jimmy Butler Took The Rear-view Mirror Out Of His Truck As A Reminder To Never Look Backwards (???)

by Boobie

Future former Minnesota Timberwolves star Jimmy Butler has requested a trade today after just one season with the team. Butler, who the Wolves acquired along with the pick that became Justin Patton during the 2017 NBA Draft for Zach Lavine, Kris Dunn, and a first rounder, is apparently fed up with the youth and immaturity of the team’s cornerstone Karl-Anthony Towns, rather than with the absurd minutes load foisted upon him by and general out of touch strategies of coach Tom Thibodeau. However, Butler’s concern about his future fit with Towns and lack of concern about how all that past wear and tear will affect his game does make a little bit of sense, given the swingman’s personality quirks, which include the absolutely outrageously idiotic move of taking the fucking rear-view mirror out of his truck for symbolism:

Still, he loathes reliving the past — so much so that he has removed the rearview mirror on his car (yes, really) as a symbolic reminder to never look back. His coach at Marquette University, Buzz Williams, says Butler was so sensitive about his upbringing that he swore Williams to secrecy while playing for him.

While not wanting to look backwards is understandable for Butler given his famously arduous road from the streets of Texas to the NBA, perhaps the Minnesota Timberwolves should have seen this incredibly stupid move more as a symbol of shortsighted selfishness that speaks to a willingness to endanger others on a whim for essentially no reason. Probably not, though, I’m not a psychologist. Honestly, I feel like Butler’s curmudgeonly demeanor and consistent clashes with his teams, while more important to the actual outcomes of those teams and the league in general, tends to overshadow this weird-ass story, and more people should know about it, and ask questions about it, such as “how does he parallel park or back out of a driveway?” and “how hard would it be to convince him to take this symbolism to its logical endpoint and wear a neck brace that physically prevents him from looking backwards during games?”

Now that Butler has demanded a trade, though, the rear-view mirror thing could actuallymatter. According to Woj, Butler has named three preferred destinations:

No one in New York drives or owns a car, and Butler would like to go to either the Nets or Knicks. For the general safety of the American citizenry, we should probably be hoping he ends up on one of those teams, because his self-imposed lack of spacial awareness while driving wouldn’t have much of a chance to rear its ugly head, at least during the season. Los Angeles, though, has famously terrible public transportation, meaning Butler would likely have to do a ton of driving while surrounded by a ton of unsuspecting fellow commuters. Butler is already gaining a reputation as a chemistry killer; in LA, he might get a rep as a person killer as well.