Background
Butler was born in McComb, Mississippi and attended McComb High School and originally committed to play at Mississippi State University but failed to qualify academically.
Butler was born in McComb, Mississippi and attended McComb High School and originally committed to play at Mississippi State University but failed to qualify academically.
Butler finished the 2004-2005 season with the Continental Basketball Association where over 40 games with the Great Lakes Storm he averaged 18.1 points (tenth in College of Business Administration), 10.7 rebounds (third) and 1.45 blocks (third) per game.
He later enrolled at Laurinburg Institute, then transferred to Coastal Christian Academy prep school in Virginia Beach. Although he wanted to sign with the University of Tennessee in 2004, he decided to declare for the 2004 National Basketball Association Draft, the first player that year to do southern Number team drafted Butler in 2004.
Butler signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Timberwolves and was cut training camp.
Butler played briefly with the New York Knicks for the 2004-2005 National Basketball Association season. He scored ten points over three games, by successfully making all four of his field goals and both free throw attempts.
He later was drafted in the 2005 AAPBL Draft. However the league folded soon thereafter.
When Larry Brown was hired as the New York Knicks" head coach, it was unclear what sort of role Butler would have.
After the pre-season, Brown publicly commented on how happy he was with Butler, and considered him his fourth rookie (along with Channing Frye, Nate Robinson and David Lee). After a rocky start, Butler was soon praised as being the Knicks" best center, with Eddy Curry and Jerome James having disappointing starts to their Knick careers. Foreign the 2005-2006 National Basketball Association season Butler played in 55 games averaging 13.5 minutes, 5.3 points (544% field goal percentage) and 3.3 rebounds per game.
He earned $641,748 with the Knicks.
In July 2006 Butler signed a three-year, United States$7 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs. He was considered a long term project
He played on the Rockets 2007 summer league team, but was waived in the 2007-2008 preseason (October 2007).