Jimmy Butler Serenades Joakim Noah in Locker Room with Chris Brown Song

At this juncture, it’s abundantly clear Jimmy Butler is going to do whatever the hell Jimmy Butler wants to do.

If he wants to drop 24 points, he’ll drop 24. If he wants to use Taylor Swift songs to prepare for brutish, testosterone-driven competition, pass the aux cord and let the man live. 

The Chicago Bulls swingman has earned the right to play nouveau country-pop during team shootarounds, and if he wants to extend that privilege to heartfelt ballads in the locker room, that’s his prerogative. 

So everyone relax a moment and let Butler serenade Joakim Noah, as he did Tuesday in the Bulls locker room for reasons that need not be explained. Pippen Ain’t Easy’s Adam Howes spotted video of Butler’s a capella performance of Chris Brown's "Say Goodbye." 

Butler’s teammate Nazr Mohammed captured the ballad, and, well, I’m not sure Noah was ready for it:

Warning: Video contains brief NSFW language.

“[Butler] was back in action trying to convince us of his singing career after basketball,” Mohammed captioned the video. “What do yall think?” 

I think we build from here, Nazr. Or, rather, we go back deeper for a cut from Butler’s B-side classics. We’ve witnessed him sing about hipsters with Swift, but most probably haven’t seen the young man tackle the high ropes course that is vintage, rat-tail country music.

Here’s video of a younger, rookie Butler taking a crack at Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow’s “Picture”—a YouTube treasure from 2012 that Howes recently rediscovered:

What do you say, gang? Has he the chops? Can you still read this text? Or are your senses now cauterized by the aural hellfire of Butler nervously attempting to carry a tune in front of his new teammates?

I understand if it’s the latter. That was rough. But that’s Jimmy, and he’s going to rock. Or something like that.

Dan is on Twitter, waiting for Jimmy to join Paul McCartney at Lolla.