Jimmy Butler chartered flight for Tyus Jones to see brother’s Duke debut
Jimmy Butler may be on his way out of Minnesota — eventually — but that did not stop the disgruntled superstar from making a generous gesture to one of his Timberwolves teammates.
T-Wolves point guard Tyus Jones wanted to catch his brother, Tre, make his debut with the Duke Blue Devils against the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday night.
The problem was that the elder Jones brother was having difficulty arranging a flight from the West Coast — where the Wolves were spending a day off ahead of taking on the Lakers Wednesday night — to Indianapolis, Ind., where Duke was facing Kentucky at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
That’s when Butler stepped in to arrange a chartered flight for he and Jones to make the trip, per The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski
UK v. Duke in Indy tonight. Tyus was looking for a flight from LA to see his brother Tre's first game. Couldn't get one to work. Jimmy Butler heard him and chartered a private jet for the two of them.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) November 7, 2018
It turned out that Butler could not make it to the game, so he allowed Jones to fly solo to the game.
Butler ended up not being able to make the trip. Let Tyus Jones take the plane himself. So Tyus is there for the big night and will be back in plenty of time for the Lakers game tomorrow night.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) November 7, 2018
“That’s my guy,” Tyus said of Butler on ESPN at the game, via Yahoo. “Very selfless. He was actually supposed to be here, but something came up. He told me to go anyways.”
Jones of course also counts himself as a Duke alum, so it must have been incredibly enjoyable to watch the Blue Devils throttle the Wildcats by a score of 118-84 in a game his little brother scored six points and added seven assists and four rebounds.
“It’s crazy,” Tyus said on ESPN. “I’m used to having the Duke jersey on. So to see Tre out there with the Duke jersey on, that’s special.”
There has been no shortage of drama, uncertainty and awkwardness in the fallout of Butler’s trade request and the saga that has since ensued. But there’s no question Butler did a solid for his teammate on this occasion.
