“We knew it was going to be a big deal,” says Jimmy Butler’s hairdresser. “It was much bigger than we expected.” Learn how “Dread Head Jimbo” became a media day legend.

Last summer, Bam Adebayo was browsing Instagram in Amsterdam and saw Jimmy Butler’s post.

Butler, wearing a black T-shirt from Ice Cube’s The Predator album, rotates on a barber’s chair six times, each revolution showing his change from braids to a loose afro to blond-tipped dreadlocks in a bun. The video concludes with Butler looking at the camera with pursed lips, challenging you to speak. Butler says, “Dread Head Jimbo,” approaching a mirror. “I like this look.”

“It kind of shocked me,” Adebayo tells The Ringer.

The post reached Gabe Vincent in Los Angeles.

“Nah, it’s probably Photoshopped,” he thought.

Bam wondered whether the dreadlocks were genuine, like many others who viewed the video. His second query was why. He contacted his colleague to ask both.

“I felt like it,” Butler told Adebayo. “And it’s real.”

“That’s Jimmy for you,” adds Haywood Highsmith. “Living his life, doing whatever he wants, doesn’t care what others think.”

Adebayo advised: “Stay petty so you ain’t gotta get petty.”

Jimmy Butler is naturally petty. He lives in it constantly. Sometimes even his teammates and friends label him a troll. His friends sаy his public character is the same as his private one, but toned down.

describing why Butler does anything is nearly as tough as describing how the Heat got from a marginal playoff club to three victories from the Finals. Butler kept trolling.

When the Heat were 2-5, Butler said they would “win the fucƙιng championship.” He blasted Nickelback in the Orlando locker room at three games over.500. Before the Eastern Conference finals, Butler said, “This year is our year.” Butler donned dreadlocks during media day, thus the NBA’s official website has shown him with them throughout Miami’s season.

Butler and the Heat face the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference playoffs, so it’s worth reviewing the figure that began it all and became Miami’s most memorable image.

The Jimmy Butler dreadlocks tale is unknown.

“I“Idon’t have any extensions,” Butler told a reporter at late September media day. “I don’t understand.”

Butler, with dreadlocks falling over his shoulders, answered media inquiries in a white Heat jersey before the season. Will he play power forward? wondered one reporter. He was instructed to shoot more 3s. One questioned his lack of summer signings when the Heat returned the same squad without P.J. Tucker. The most crucial concerns were whether Butler would wear these dreadlocks all season and whether they were genuine.

“It’s still up to debate whether I’m going to keep my hair like this or not,” Butler told The Ringer, who can’t interview him during the playoffs. “They are not extensions.”

Except they were.

Butler’s hairdresser, Jessica “Diamond” Dаrt, inserted them on July 5, over three months before media day. She has styled Butler’s hair for six years, starting with his debut season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Butler entourage travels from city to city over the season, including Diamond. Butler occasionally asks about fresh outfits when traveling.

“He has some crаzy requests,” Dаrt adds.

One is the Jheri curl.

“That was actually the one in the running with the dreadlocks,” Dаrt explains. “But it’s unhealthy for hair,” and old.”

But the dreads? “That was possible.”

Butler had braids before the makeover since he didn’t have enough hair for dreadlocks. Butler might get extensions and get dreadlocks without harming his hair or making them permanent, Dаrt said. The very competitive Butler doubted.

Butler’s hairdresser, Jessica “Diamond” Dаrt, inserted them on July 5, over three months before media day. She has styled Butler’s hair for six years, starting with his debut season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Butler entourage travels from city to city over the season, including Diamond. Butler occasionally asks about fresh outfits when traveling.

“He has some crаzy requests,” Dаrt adds.

One is the Jheri curl.

“That was actually the one in the running with the dreadlocks,” Dаrt explains. “But it’s unhealthy for hair,” and old.”

But the dreads? “That was possible.”

Butler had braids before the makeover since he didn’t have enough hair for dreadlocks. Butler might get extensions and get dreadlocks without harming his hair or making them permanent, Dаrt said. The very competitive Butler doubted.“He has some crаzy requests,” Dаrt adds.

One is the Jheri curl.

“That was actually the one in the running with the dreadlocks,” Dаrt explains. “But it’s unhealthy for hair,” and old.”

But the dreads? “That was possible.”

Butler had braids before the makeover since he didn’t have enough hair for dreadlocks. Butler might get extensions and get dreadlocks without harming his hair or making them permanent, Dаrt said. The very competitive Butler doubted.

Butler wore a different style in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and New York last summer. He put the dreadlocks in a ponytail in New York and down in Colombia. He played basketball wherever he went and tested the dreadlocks in a game. Butler pulled the dreadlocks before Miami’s first preseason game because he thought they would be too much to handle while playing.

Butler had already planned to wear dreadlocks to media day.

“It was absolutely big for him,” Dаrt adds, confirming Butler’s ambition of having his dreadlocks in season-long promotions. “That ended our dread ride.”

Butler took Dаrt to Miami for touch-ups in late September, a week before the preseason. On media day, players chat with reporters, take photographs, record promotional films, and provide interviews for the club and league to utilize throughout the season. Butler had Dаrt arrange his hair differently between interviews, like Beyoncé’s show attire. They tried three or four dreadlock hairstyles that took five to 10 minutes to style.

The final look, on the NBA website, was developed for months. ESPN moved to a dreadlocks-free shot of the Heat star, which Butler pointed out to For the Win, “You’re supposed to be using my media day picture. Restore my hair.”

Butler had his dreadlocks down, and Dаrt made them wavy for drаmа. Butler looks deadly in his clean-shaven shot. Voilà.

Butler also addressed reporters this way.

“I’m trying many new looks. Love my baby-faced аssаssin look? Isn’t it cute? Butler asks. I tinker with things to annoy the internet. This summer, I achieved my goal.”

“We knew it would be big,” Dаrt adds. “It was much bigger than we expected.”

Butler’s photographs flooded social media. Eminem’s pal Mekhi Phifer and Bob Marley were compared in 8 Mile. Brian Windhorst of ESPN observed, “There might not be a bigger troll in the NBA than Miami’s Jimmy Butler.”

But becoming viral wasn’t the aim. Butler wаnted to push himself and attempt something different. His dreadlock photographs will always reflect this period of his life and profession.

“When he thinks something is off the wall, he’ll want to try it,” Dаrt adds. “He doesn’t try things to go viral.”

Butler doesn’t care what others sаy, according to his teammates, friends, and family. He’s outspoken and challenges expectations. He supports it as an All-NBA second-teamer averaging 32 points in the playoffs.

This wasn’t always so. From Chicago to Minnesota to Philadelphia, Butler’s vitriol quickly drained organizations. Butler never finished two seasons with the Wolves or Sixers.

“He didn’t seem happy,” Dаrt recalls seeing Butler after the Bulls moved him to the Timberwolves. “Dealing with him now and then is different. This guy is wonderful. He seems free and cheerful, so you want to breathe it in. He can work his аss off with others that work their аsses off too.”

“He has some crаzy requests,” Dаrt adds.

One is the Jheri curl.

“That was actually the one in the running with the dreadlocks,” Dаrt explains. “But it’s unhealthy for hair,” and old.”

But the dreads? “That was possible.”

Butler had braids before the makeover since he didn’t have enough hair for dreadlocks. Butler might get extensions and get dreadlocks without harming his hair or making them permanent, Dаrt said. The very competitive Butler doubted.

Butler joins a Miami basketball lifer group. Hard labor, sacrifice, and a little antagonism might be the Miami Heat’s objective. He shares a locker room with Udonis Haslem, Kyle Lowry, Adebayo, and seven undrafted free agents who, like Butler, earned their NBA success.

“He is us, and we are him,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Butler scored 42 points in 46 minutes in Miami’s overtime triumph against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. “Sometimes, psychotics meet.”

Butler spends time with family and friends off the court. The development of Dread Head Jimbo was as much about fun as it was about engaging others.

“He’s a team player,” Dаrt adds.

“He’s full of surprises,” says Vincent.

“It probably says a lot that he’d sit in that chair for four or five hours,” Highsmith adds. “He wаnted to go all out for the joke, I guess.”

Butler doesn’t do anything halfway, as Dread Head Jimbo taught us. He understands one rule from the court to the salon: Go big or go home.

This statement is appropriate for a Heat team seeking to progress in the playoffs.

“You can’t deny him for who he is and what he is,” Adebayo adds. “And he’s an incredible player.”