When Jimmy Butler said he rediscovered his joy after joining the Golden State Warriors, little did he know that "joy" would include his budding friendship with fellow NBA vet Buddy Hield.
Hield showed why the Warriors were right to bring him in at the start of the 2024-25 season in Monday night's 109-106 victory over the Houston Rockets, with Hield putting up a solid 15 points and shooting 3-of-9 from three in his first start of the playoffs.
Hield's heroics didn't go unnoticed by coach Steve Kerr, who hilariously gave him a back-handed compliment after the win. Butler also couldn't resist getting in on the Buddy roast:
"I hate to give Buddy a compliment, so I'm not going to," Butler said in a postgame presser. "But No. 7 on our team really brought the defensive mentality tonight and made some open shots."
The former Miami Heat star then did something that arguably marked the next big step of their love-hate friendship: He posted Hield on the grid.
In a rare public act of kindness toward Hield, Butler shared a four-photo slideshow of his teammate on his Instagram account and captioned it, "felt nice might take down later"
Just too good. It feels like only yesterday when Butler playfully trolled Hield with a post after Game 3's win that read: "thanks batman and team. excluding buddy."
May this fun-loving Warriors duo never break up.
Game 5 of the Warriors-Rockets series is Wednesday night in Houston.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Warriors' Buddy Hield Receives Hilarious Honor From Jimmy Butler After Game 4 Heroics.