Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler And Troubled NFL Receiver Antonio Brown Have Longstanding Friendship
Former star NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
While his name was once in conversations of the greatest receivers of all time, it is now in news stories of controversy. According to FOX 13, Tampa Bay police issued a warrant for Brown on Thursday for domestic violence charges against his ex-fiancée. Brown is not communicating and in a police standoff as of Thursday evening.
NBA star Jimmy Butler was close friends with Brown before he joined the Miami Heat. In a 2019 episode of “Hot Ones,” Butler told host Sean Evans that he lost a bet to Brown.
“I still think I owe him like $30,000,” Butler said. “I made a bet that I could stop him from catching the ball in the Red Zone.”
At the time, Brown was with the Oakland Raiders during the preseason while Butler was on the Philadelphia 76ers.
“You’re talking about the best receiver in the league and then [Russell Wilson] at quarterback,” Butler continued. “I’m just saying, if the Raiders had me opposite of him, you never know where we could go.”
Since, Brown’s career has only continued to be hampered by off-field problems. Some believe these issues started when he sustained a blow to the head from Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict in 2016. This is when his controversial issues began, and they have only continued to worsen. While this issue is still up for debate, Brown’s decisions have ran his career into the ground.
His career ended when he ran off the field in the middle of a game against the New York Jets, throwing his helmet and equipment into the stands.
Butler, on the other hand, has since been a shining star for the Heat. He led Miami to the Finals in 2020 and was one shot away from doing so again last season.
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Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.