MIAMI - There were no parting shots when Jimmy Butler left the Miami Heat last week and there were no parting shots Saturday night when he took the court for the first time with the Golden State Warriors - at least other than free throws.
Butler, with a different look on his jersey, closed with 25 points in the Warriors debut, a 132-111 road victory over the Chicago Bulls, including 11 of 13 from the free throw line. His 11 free throws were the most ever by a player in their Warriors debut, while his 13 attempts were second to only Wilt Chamberlain's 15 in his NBA debut with the Philadelphia Warriors on Oct. 24, 1959.
During his postgame media session, Butler alluded to his three unpaid Heat suspensions that preceded Thursday's trade at the NBA trading deadline to the Warriors for Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson and a first-round draft choice.
"Tired, extremely tired," Butler said, "like somebody that had a month off - not that I wanted a month off. But I got it going a little bit. I have to do a ton more of conditioning, but I'll get it back, it's only a matter of time."
Butler took the court with his nameplate on the back of his jersey reading Butler III.
He explained why afterward.
"Because I am the third and it's actually a year today of the passing of my father, so this was big for me to change it and realize that I am his son," he said at a podium at the United Center. "So I'm very grateful and that's why I'm Butler III now, forever and ever."
Butler said he knew he would be playing in a different uniform by this weekend, even as trade talks got sideways with the Heat, with Butler's camp initially expressing a desire only to be dealt to the Phoenix Suns.
"I knew I knew I was going somewhere," he said. "Whether they were sending me to Flamengo down in Brazil, I knew I was going somewhere. But I'm glad that it is here,
"I'm grateful to be able to play basketball for a top organization like this one. So I want to put everything behind me and focus on the now and moving forward. But like I've been saying, I got nothing bad to say about them. I'm grateful for my time there."
And, he said, appreciative for the opportunity to line up alongside Stephen Curry, who also said he is appreciative of the trade.
"He's like the exact opposite player of me," Curry said. "I took 16 threes and he shot one. He got to the free throw line a lot, dominated the paint. I dominate the perimeter. It has the potential to be really fun."
With that comment relayed, Butler smiled.
"They say opposites attract in a lot of ways in life," Butler said. "And I don't think I can be a better compliment to him and vice versa, in a sense that they're not leaving him, ever, probably two people would never leave him. So there's so much space for everybody else and I get the easy job.
"I'm playing one on one, or I'm playing in so much space and then everybody's looking for him and everybody's looking to get him open, and at the same time, he's looking for everybody else. So it's so great to play with somebody like that."
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was all smiles afterward.
"It's pretty fun having Jimmy on our team," he said. "He's an amazing player. The ability to get fouled, it just settles the game for us at key times.
"He's a lion out there. He is. He's just a force."
At 35, Butler said it was a fresh start, even as he still found himself with lingering Heat thoughts as he won Sunday in a building where the Heat lost Tuesday.
"I've been in Miami for, what, six years damn near," he said of his 5 21/2 seasons with the Heat. "So I know what I'm supposed to be doing. But I kind of go back to what we were doing over there and I've got to get that out of my mind very, very quickly.
"But they understand and they're barking at me, 'Hey, no, this is how we do it, this is how you do it.' It will come with time."