Jared Butler went OFF in his Stars debut

Jared Butler’s professional basketball debut probably didn’t start off how he was imagining it. After showing some promising minutes in Utah Jazz pre-season games, Butler hasn’t been able to make the most of his very limited NBA minutes, and found himself getting assigned to the Jazz’s G-League affiliate SLC Stars team last week. He practiced with them for a few days, and made his debut last night at the Star’s home-opener. Some rookies might see this as a disappointment or a demotion, but Jared Butler used this opportunity to simply get buckets and W’s. With some teammates in the building, including All-Star Donovan Mitchell and lockdown specialist Royce O’Neale, Butler popped off.

Butler showcased his dynamic scoring ability, dropping 30 points on 13-23 shooting, including 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. He was the most dominant player on the floor, and it was quite obvious. He also scored the first bucket of the game, which was the first in that arena in 621 days.

He was a +18 in a 2-point ball game, so you can see the impact that he had on the game. He scored 9 points in the fourth quarter, including 4 in the final minute, INCLUDING A ULTRA CLUTCH, PUMP-FAKE, GAME-WINNER.

Butler made a great move to get by his defender, and then showed some pretty impressive balance and finesse with the pump-fake to get an open shot at the rim. This game winner was his 30th point of the game, his first with the SLC stars.

You can watch the condensed version of the game below, in what was actually a pretty fun battle between the Stars and the Santa Cruz Warriors.

It was so fun to watch Butler play basketball. We haven’t really had the opportunity to watch him really get into his groove so far this season, and this was our chance. Yes, it wasn’t the NBA, and it’s definitely not the same. But just from watching this game, you can tell his talent is too good for G-League basketball. Butler belongs in the NBA. It’s only a matter of time before he either gets increased minutes, or is able to take advantage of limited minutes and find his groove on the NBA floor