Why ‘Playoff Jimmy’ Butler adds more pressure for the Chicago Bulls to find success with Zach LaVine

Although it once again didn’t end with a ring, the 2023 NBA playoffs added another chapter to the lore of ”Playoff Jimmy.”

That nickname has hovered around Jimmy Butler throughout his 11-year streak of playoff appearances — and apropos of any memes or jokes, his postseason impact is undeniable.

Over the last four seasons, Butler has averaged 24.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists in the postseason while leading the Miami Heat to 38 playoff wins and two Finals — the best record in the league during that span.

And this season, Butler powered every step of the Heat’s improbable run starting with the play-in tournament. After holding off the Bulls with a 13-point fourth quarter to advance, he dropped 56 points in a clinching Game 4 performance as part of a herculean effort to overwhelm the injured Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Butler has joined a unique class of players in NBA history to record a higher average of points, rebounds, assists and shooting percentage in 100 or more playoff games than they did in the regular season. This statistic is matched only by Hakeem Olajuwon, James Worthy, Ben Wallace, Robert Horry and Bryon Russell.

Yet despite the mythos steeped in his playoff success, Butler continues to shrug off the nickname and the expectations that come with it.

“It’s not a thing,” Butler insisted to the media after the Game 4 win over the Bucks. “It’s not. I just be hooping.”

The Heat had clearly run out of gas by the Finals, and it’s unclear if any team’s defense could have withstood the buzz saw of a fully operational Denver Nuggets offense. Although Butler couldn’t replicate his heroics from previous rounds, he still averaged 21.6 points on 41.3% shooting against the Nuggets to cap another commanding postseason.

For Bulls fans, the question that follows is instinctive and emotionally dangerous: Could Butler have done all of this in Chicago?

It took a few seasons for Butler to warm up to his role in the league after the Bulls drafted him in 2011. But by 2015 he had become a verified star with a Most Improved Player trophy and an All-Star designation to prove it. Still, the fit never quite worked out for the Bulls, who traded Butler in 2017 to acquire Kris Dunn, Lauri Markkanen and current centerpiece Zach LaVine.

On paper, the disparity between the sides of that deal felt fairly stark. Butler hasn’t missed the playoffs since, including trips to the Finals with the Heat in 2020 and this year. The Bulls have made it back to the playoffs once in the last five seasons, recording one playoff win last season against the Bucks.

For a sports fan, few quandaries are as dangerous as a “what if” question — especially in Chicago.

The last decade of the Bulls franchise is littered with those questions. What if Derrick Rose hadn’t been injured? Or Lonzo Ball? What if the Bulls didn’t trade Butler? Or Markkanen? Or even Wendell Carter Jr.?

And after the Bulls were 3 minutes, 45 seconds away from stealing the Heat’s playoff berth in Miami in the play-in tournament, it’s understandable that a faint refrain of “that should be me” has been playing in the background in Chicago as Butler lifted the Heat to the Finals.

For the Bulls, overcoming any wistfulness over the Butler breakup has nothing to do with their former star’s success. Instead, it rests on getting the most out of LaVine, the last remaining acquisition from that 2017 trade.

Over the last five seasons of unfulfilled expectations, the Bulls have struggled to answer a key question in their roster — is the issue the leading man or the supporting cast?

LaVine earned back-to-back All-Star selections in 2021 and 2022, then recorded one of his most efficient scoring seasons after a slow start due to injury this year. Yet he has appeared in only four playoff games for the Bulls and disappeared in the final minutes of this year’s disqualifying play-in loss.

The Bulls were committed to LaVine in 2017 and doubled down last summer by signing him to a $215 million maximum contract. But as they enter their seventh season of that commitment, it’s still unclear when — or if — either side will see the returns they originally hoped to yield.

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