NEW ORLEANS — Jimmy Butler’s multipatterned shirt defied description, other than it featured a giant king of spades.
Stella McCartney designed it, and it fetches $810.
So although Butler still describes himself as "the kid from Tomball, Texas," there’s no mistaking that he’s now a three-time NBA All-Star in the midst of a $92.3 million contract with the Bulls.
"But I’m still me," he said. "Some people don’t like it; some people don’t think so. Oh well."
Butler was razzed lightly at the start of his 23-minute All-Star weekend media session Friday in New Orleans, with reporters asking if he had iced his elbow after Thursday night’s game.
"All y’all got some jokes, huh?" Butler replied.
After rising to attempt a game-winning shot Thursday against the Celtics, official Zach Zarba whistled Marcus Smart for a foul. Celtics guards Isaiah Thomas called the seemingly light tap on Butler’s elbow "a horrible call."
Butler said it was the right call. He made his two free throws to give the Bulls the one-point victory.
"A foul’s a foul," he said. "Everybody keeps asking me about the call. If I hit you on your elbow when you’re taking a jump shot and you miss it, you’re going to be hot. It was a foul. You can’t knock that it was a foul. Was it a ticky-tack foul? Yes. But I would have made (the shot) if you don’t hit my elbow, I believe."
In its "Last 2 Minute Report" for officiating transparency, the NBA ruled that it indeed was a foul.
Photos of Bulls guard/forward Jimmy Butler.
Asked if it’s a good sign that he now is receiving superstar calls, Butler replied: "I don’t get superstar calls. When I get fouled, I get fouled."
As supposedly prime trade bait, Butler is not sweating the Feb. 23 deadline, saying: "Why talk about it? Why worry about it? If you’re here, you’re here. If you’re not, you’re not."
If he’s no longer in Chicago soon, Butler might be in Boston, given the Celtics’ plethora of high draft picks.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens, meanwhile, called his team’s chemistry "great" and added: "Those picks and (rookie) Jaylen Brown are really important to continue to build a long-term, sustainable, competitive team. If you’re able to do that enough, hopefully you get your shots at (the title)."
Butler hopes to take plenty of shots Sunday night’s All-Star Game at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
He made the Eastern Conference team in 2015 but played just nine minutes at Madison Square Garden, hitting 3 of 4 shots with a pair of steals.
Last year he went to Toronto for All-Star weekend but a knee injury sidelined him.
"I’m always nicked up right before (the game)," he said.
Butler missed four February games with a bruised heel but logged 40 minutes Thursday night.
"I wanted to win," he said. "(Coach Fred Hoiberg) was trying to sit me down at times and I asked very, very nicely: Please keep me in the game."
As for Sunday …
"I want to play. Damn, this is what all the hard work … this is how you get rewarded," Butler said. "I want to compete against the best even though it’s a different type of game. I know the gist. Don’t go out there trying to guard people 94 feet."
Butler said his challenge is to remain an All-Star every year, saying: "I have two underneath my belt now. A lot of guys have done it for 10-plus years. Hopefully I’m one."
An additional goal is to team with Chance the Rapper, the Grammy-award winner and 23-year-old Chicago native, on projects in Chicago. The two posed together recently for an ESPN the Magazine cover.
"Chance is an incredible human being and obviously an incredible talent," Butler said. "We do plan on doing a lot of stuff together in Chicago. I like to call it my city now, as well as his. So we want to inspire people, give hope and moving forward, you will definitely see our faces in that community more often."
tgreenstein@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
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