Is Jimmy Butler better than Kawhi?

[GrayGoat]

I think Kawhi lucked out obviously but Butler seems to have an extra gear that Kawhi doesn’t have

[SouBeachTalents]

Peak for peak Kawhi’s better, but Jimmy is a beast.

[jayfan]

No.

[GrayGoat]

No.

Why tho?

[Full Court]

Peak Kawhi was better than any version of Butler, but I'd rather have Butler on my team based on his durability and his not acting like an entitled prima donna.

[HoopologyPhD]

Tough to say, Kawhi has been surrounded by more talent than Lebron and has almost always played for a contender

[90sgoat]

Kawhi is much better at scamming his employers.

[dankok8]

Butler has gone from being a bit underrated (top 15 player that should be borderline top 10) to a guy who is super overrated.

This comparison goes to Kawhi by a lot.

[PeroAntic]

Peak Kawhi was better than any version of Butler, but I'd rather have Butler on my team based on his durability and his not acting like an entitled prima donna.

yeah this. If you factor durability Im not sure Id take Kawhi.

[BallsOut]

Peak Kawhi was better than any version of Butler, but I'd rather have Butler on my team based on his durability and his not acting like an entitled prima donna.

Well said

[Manny98]

If he can lead this team to a championship then yes

[tpols]

I would normally say kawhi but what butler has shown the past 3 years has been remarkable... a MJ level competitor. It's about a draw to me.

A lot of people on this site have called giannis a super mega star and never rank butler over him despite butler generally having his number and whooping his ass even playing with less help.

So everybody has been underrated Jimmy butler.

[ImKobe]

Forget about Kawhi.. Butler might be up there with MJ & Kobe at this rate.

[ArbitraryWater]

Forget about Kawhi.. Butler might be up there with MJ & Kobe at this rate.

MJ & Kobe? like theyre some kind of similar performer? :lol

hes definitely up there with Kobe as playoff performer. Prob better. Purely playoffs.

[ImKobe]

MJ & Kobe? like theyre some kind of similar performer? :lol

hes definitely up there with Kobe as playoff performer. Prob better. Purely playoffs.

Yes? KB is the only wing player that's even close to Jordan when looking at his Playoff track record bro. You can post the memes about his efficiency numbers & cherry-pick the series he played injured in but you'd be a ****ing idiot to argue against that. "oh he had Shaq so it doesn't count", "oh he had one bad shooting night in this series so he wasn't the best player" gtfoh.

[Wally450]

Currently? Yes. At their peaks, Kawhi was otherworldly.

[GrayGoat]

I would normally say kawhi but what butler has shown the past 3 years has been remarkable... a MJ level competitor. It's about a draw to me.

A lot of people on this site have called giannis a super mega star and never rank butler over him despite butler generally having his number and whooping his ass even playing with less help.

So everybody has been underrated Jimmy butler.
To be fair Butler and Giannis have traded series wins the past 4 years. They are pretty equal

[WhiteKyrie]

No but Jimmy is a beast. And Jimmy > Yanni

[RRR3]

Yes? KB is the only wing player that's even close to Jordan when looking at his Playoff track record bro. You can post the memes about his efficiency numbers & cherry-pick the series he played injured in but you'd be a ****ing idiot to argue against that. "oh he had Shaq so it doesn't count", "oh he had one bad shooting night in this series so he wasn't the best player" gtfoh.
:roll: :roll: :roll:

[ArbitraryWater]

Yes? KB is the only wing player that's even close to Jordan when looking at his Playoff track record bro. You can post the memes about his efficiency numbers & cherry-pick the series he played injured in but you'd be a ****ing idiot to argue against that. "oh he had Shaq so it doesn't count", "oh he had one bad shooting night in this series so he wasn't the best player" gtfoh.

wtf track record are you looking at?

[WhiteKyrie]

Kobe never lost with a number 1 seed to an 8th seed. That’s for damn sure

[ArbitraryWater]

Kobe never lost with a number 1 seed to an 8th seed. That’s for damn sure


what the **** are you talking about? how does your brain think this is a post worth making?

[RRR3]

what the **** are you talking about? how does your brain think this is a post worth making?
Probably so senile he thinks LeBron did that.

[WhiteKyrie]

what the **** are you talking about? how does your brain think this is a post worth making?

We stating facts out here, that’s all.

[tpols]

Kobe never lost with a number 1 seed to an 8th seed. That’s for damn sure

Quite the contrary... Kobe used to catch big heat for losing as a 7 seed.

[ImKobe]

wtf track record are you looking at?

Idk 5/7 Finals, beat most 50+ win teams all-time, spanked prime Duncan over & over again.. part of the only 3-Peat since the 90s Bulls..

[SouBeachTalents]

Idk 5/7 Finals, beat most 50+ win teams all-time, spanked prime Duncan over & over again.. part of the only 3-Peat since the 90s Bulls..
Eh, he was the sidekick bro, most definitely for the first one. Is Kobe really the closest to Jordan when 4 other guys have more FMVP's than him?

[WhiteKyrie]

Quite the contrary... Kobe used to catch big heat for losing as a 7 seed.

With Lamar Odom, Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, and Chris Mihm

[ImKobe]

Eh, he was the sidekick bro, most definitely for the first one. Is Kobe really the closest to Jordan when 4 other guys have more FMVP's than him?

He was no Pippen lmao. Pippen wasn't a closer. He was the best player in the world in '01 at 22 yrs old. Real finals were played out West but we don't need to have this argument every single time.

[John8204]

If we are talking all-time legacy of players in the game all-time for me..

1. Lebron James
2. Steph Curry
3. Chris Paul
4. Giannis Antetokounmpo
5. Kwahi Leonard
6. Kevin Durant
7. James Harden
8. Jimmy Butler
9. Nikola Jokic
10. Joel Embiid
11. Damian Lillard
12. Klay Thompson
13. Anthony Davis
14. Luka Doncic
15. Jason Tatum
16. Russell Westbrook
17. Kyrie Irving
18. Kevin Love
19. Paul George
20. Draymond Green

I don't think he can pass Harden this year...but he has easily established himself as a top 50 player. And I think he's better than mr "advanced stats" MVP.

[highwhey]

what a fukkin stupid thread. no. kawhi cannot be matched.

[bizil]

When it comes to two way ability, Butler is a top 10 SF of all time. When you combine scoring, rebounding, defense, and passing as package, Butler is a top 10 SF of all time as well. I'm sure many casual type fans don't realize this. BUT when he hits the playoff, he TRULY turns it up a couple of notches in terms of his scoring ability.

During the regular season, Butler at his best has a Pip-esque approach in a sense. Swiss army knife versatile type who will average 22 PPG, 6-7 dimes, 6-7 boards a night. To go with All League caliber defense. In the playoffs, he TOTALLY amps up the scoring to true alpha dog levels. I thought Butler was an HOFer already before this season. But he's TRULY STAMPED his HOF status at this point.

But Kawhi at his best is the better player. When u think about it, Kawhi and Butler are KINDA SIMILAR PLAYERS in terms of what they bring to the table. Kawhi two way wise is the BEST SF OF ALL TIME! But Kawhi's durability issues make it an interesting comparison in terms of who I would rather have on my team. Plus we see how Butler raises his game in the playoffs in terms of the scoring.

But peak for peak, only SF's I would take over Kawhi FOR SURE are Bron, Bird, and KD. And what Kawhi has done resume wise (despite the injuries) has him in the top 6-8 GOAT SF's of all time. However Butler is one of the more underrated stars in NBA history. As I said earlier, I don't think a lot of people REALIZE how high Butler ranks HISTORICALLY in terms of TOTAL PACKAGE wing players!

[kawhileonard2]

Kawhi won a title for the franchise that drafted him without leaving and then led a franchise that never won to a title beating peak Durant and Steph in the finals.

[John8204]

In all fairness to Butler...Philly, Minnesota, and Chicago are three terrible front office teams. Kawhi has two FMVP's against two Super Teams...his health makes him an outlier but his accomplishments puts him top 40/30

[fsvr54]

Jimmy is healthy, Kawhi is not healthy. That's it. Kawhi is better at the end of the day, but his body won't hold up. That's no shade on Jimmy, because a healthy Kawhi is the best player in the world.

[ILLsmak]

I don’t like better threads. The question you have to ask is is there a team that u could build with butler where he’d outperform Kawhi. I say no. However, if u want ppl who are less consistently injured, I think kawhi, unless there is some medical revolution, might be stuck in this loop til he retires. In that way, Jim mite b better now.

-Smak

[Phoenix]

Based on what has been proven when at the top of their respective games and healthy, Kawhi. Based on who'd take on your team now on the probability of actually being available during the year, Jimmy Buckets.

[999Guy]

I would normally say kawhi but what butler has shown the past 3 years has been remarkable... a MJ level competitor. It's about a draw to me.

A lot of people on this site have called giannis a super mega star and never rank butler over him despite butler generally having his number and whooping his ass even playing with less help.

So everybody has been underrated Jimmy butler.

…To become a Terminator come playoff time for years straight takes what level of competitiveness… I agree Jimmy has some intangibles but so does Kawhi.


Kawhi is more complete player with skills that scale up higher(has series being essentially a Curry level shooter).

Jimmy is a hurricane of insane athleticism and discipline as far as his shot selection and defensiveness awareness. Like you said, a competitive demon. But Cyborgs just do cleaner work than Demons.

[999Guy]

Jimmy Butler has to be the strongest shooting guard in the history of basketball.

His strength is Power Forward or Center level in any era and he uses it to create the space a speed demon like Westbrook would get off dribble or otherwise.

[AlternativeAcc.]

Can no longer give Kawhit the "when healthy" benefit of the doubt.

He plays in an unsustainable manner for his body thus gets less credit for what he does when he actually plays. Butler has sustainability while playing at am extremely high level, kawhit doesn't. Even if Kawhit has the potential to be better for one or two games, it doesn't move the needle. And butler has better playoff series than Kawhit has ever had so you can't make the series argument for kawhi. These convos get skewed for Kawhit because of 2019 where he faced the Warriors without Klay and Durant. Butler would've beat them too with that insane Raps roster.

So it's Butler.

[Phoenix]

One other thing, I think Butler is much better at keeping his defense at a certain level as his offense scales up. Kawhi's offensive peak and defensive peak are like 3-4 years apart. Like if you took Kawhi's offense from 2019 onwards mixed with 2015-2017 defense, you've got top 10 level potential there. But once Kawhi hit the high 20's offensively his defense has been great 'in spurts' but it's also coincided with a complete physical deterioration. 2019 was a lightning in a bottle moment that people keep hoping he's going to return to( the Clippers chiefly), but it's just not happening.

[imdaman99]

Kawhi is one of them guys that can still dominate a game defensively. I don't think Jimmy is nearly as good as he used to be on that end, especially now that he has more responsibilities on offense. Obviously health is an issue because the best ability is availability. But I think Kawhi's ceiling is higher than Jimmy's... and that's seeing Butler go to the finals in the bubble.

I have no ill will towards Kawhi even though my guy Westbrook got burned by him not playing. Kawhi is an injured player, I'm pretty sure his knee will never get better and it's just about 'load management' for the rest of his career.

[basketballcat]

FMVPs: Kawhi 2, Jimmy 0
DPOYs: Kawhi 2. Jimmy 0
In fact, only Olajuwon has 2 FMVPs & 2 DPOYs. Kawhi's level of 2-way dominance is GOAT level. He's an elite shooter too, especially in the playoffs. His career playoff 3pt% is better than Steph Curry.

It's not even remotely close: Kawhi >>> Jimmy.

Love Jimmy, though. Bouncing Giannis and going toe to toe with LeBron is great.