Max Strus remembers Jimmy Butler as one of the most intense and unpredictable teammates he ever had.
Speaking about their time together with the Miami Heat, Strus described a relationship that could change dramatically from one day to the next. Butler might spend an evening acting like a close friend, then arrive at practice the next morning and barely acknowledge him before becoming completely engaged again once the game started.
“He’s also like an asshole towards you. One day you’ll look at him and he won’t even like, acknowledge you. You could go to dinner with him the night before and you’re his best friend then the next morning you go to practice and he won’t even look at you or say hi to you. It’s like ‘damn, what did I do at dinner last night?’ Then the game starts and he’s your best friend again. You gotta play the cards like ‘ah, Jimmy is gonna be Jimmy.’ I just got to a point I didn’t give a f*ck anymore.”
Max Strus on what it was like being teammates with Jimmy Butler in Miami 💀
“He’s also like an asshole towards you. One day you’ll look at him and he won’t even like, acknowledge you. You could go to dinner with him the night before and you’re his best friend then the next… pic.twitter.com/7D6NYAqVNY
— Heat Central (@TheHeatCentral) August 23, 2026
Strus’ story fits the larger reputation Butler developed during his years in Miami. He was demanding, emotionally intense and often difficult to read, but also deeply invested in competition and in the teammates he trusted when it mattered most.
That dynamic became part of the culture surrounding the Heat during Butler’s tenure. Miami reached the NBA Finals in 2020 and again in 2023, with Butler at the center of both runs and Strus playing an important perimeter role during the latter years of that stretch.
For Strus, adjusting to Butler ultimately meant accepting that there was no value in trying to interpret every interaction.
The solution was simple: stop taking it personally.
Butler was going to operate on his own emotional wavelength, and once Strus understood that, the relationship became easier to navigate. In other words, there was no daily friendship test to pass. There was just Jimmy being Jimmy.
