Rasual Butler

Rasual Butler

Butler in 2009
Personal information
Born	(1979-05-23)May 23, 1979 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	January 31, 2018(2018-01-31) (aged 38) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school	Roman Catholic (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
College	La Salle (1998–2002)
NBA draft	2002: 2nd round, 53rd overall pick
Selected by the Miami Heat
Playing career	2002–2016
Position	Small forward / shooting guard
Number	45, 9, 8, 18
Career history
2002–2005	Miami Heat
2005–2009	New Orleans Hornets[a]
2009–2011	Los Angeles Clippers
2011	Chicago Bulls
2011–2012	Toronto Raptors
2012–2013	Tulsa 66ers
2013–2014	Indiana Pacers
2014–2015	Washington Wizards
2015–2016	San Antonio Spurs
Career highlights and awards
NBA D-League Impact Player of the Year (2013) 2× First-team All-Atlantic 10 (2001, 2002) Third-team Parade All-American (1998)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Rasual Butler (born Felix Rasual Cheeseborough;^[1] May 23, 1979 – January 31, 2018) was an American professional basketball player. In his 14-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career, he played for the Miami Heat, New Orleans Hornets, Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards and San Antonio Spurs. Butler was born in Philadelphia, and raised in the Point Breeze area of South Philadelphia. After playing college basketball with the La Salle Explorers, he was drafted in the second round of the 2002 NBA draft by the Heat. On January 31, 2018, Butler was behind the wheel when he and his girlfriend, Leah LaBelle, died in a single vehicle car crash in Los Angeles.

Butler was born as Felix Rasual Cheeseborough to parents Felix Cheeseborough and Cheryl Taylor.^[1] When he was aged eight, his father was murdered on a South Philadelphia street in an unsolved case.^[1] Taylor changed her son's name to Rasual Butler using her mother's maiden name so Butler would not be constantly reminded of his father's death.^[1]

Butler played his college career with the La Salle Explorers. He became the sixth Explorer to score over 2,000 points, and at the time of his induction into the La Salle University Hall of Athletes, he ranked fourth among the Explorer's all-time scorers (2,125). He was named to First Team All-Atlantic 10 (2001, 2002) and was selected to the Verizon Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship All-Tournament team in 2002. He was inducted into the La Salle Hall of Athletes in 2008.^[2]

Butler was selected by the Miami Heat with the 53rd pick of the 2002 NBA draft.^[3]

After three seasons with the Heat, Butler was traded to the New Orleans Hornets as part of the largest trade in NBA history. The four-team trade involved the Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, and Utah Jazz, and featured 13 players, most notably Eddie Jones, Antoine Walker, Jason Williams and James Posey.^[4]

During the 2007–08 regular season, Butler averaged 17 minutes of action, 4.9 points and 2 rebounds per game while coming mostly from the bench.^[5]

On August 12, 2009, the Los Angeles Clippers acquired Butler by trading a conditional 2016 second round draft pick.^[6] He was waived by the Clippers on February 28, 2011.^[7]

Butler signed with the Chicago Bulls on March 3, 2011.^[8]

In August 2011, Butler signed a one-year contract with CB Gran Canaria.^[9] However, he never made an appearance for them on the court.

On December 10, 2011, Butler signed a new contract with the Toronto Raptors.^[10] He was waived by the Raptors on March 23, 2012. He averaged 3.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 13 minutes of action in 34 games.^[11]

On January 18, 2013, Butler joined the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.^[12] He was subsequently named the 2013 Impact player of the Year, which is awarded to a player who joined an NBA D-League team midway through the season and made the greatest contribution following his in-season acquisition.^[13]

On September 27, 2013, Butler signed with the Indiana Pacers.^[14][15] He averaged 2.7 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists in 50 games.^[16]

On September 29, 2014, Butler signed with the Washington Wizards.^[17] After an impressive preseason and a fractured wrist suffered by Bradley Beal, Butler made the final team prior to the start of the 2014–15 season. Within six regular season games, he was a force off the bench as he cemented a role under coach Randy Wittman.^[18]

On September 28, 2015, Butler signed with the San Antonio Spurs.^[19]

Butler's final NBA game was played on March 8, 2016, in a 116 - 91 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves where he played for 5 minutes and recorded no stats. The very next day on March 9, 2016, he was waived by the Spurs. He averaged 2.7 points, 1.2 rebounds and 9.4 minutes in 46 games.^[20]

On September 26, 2016, Butler signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves,^[21] but was waived on October 22 after appearing in five preseason games.^[22]

In 2017, Butler was signed by the Ball Hogs to play in the BIG3. During the season, he was traded to Power.^[23]

Butler's outside shooting was considered to be his greatest strength, shooting 36 percent over the course of his career and even 46 percent (50 total) during the 2003–04 season from behind the three-point line.^[24] His career-high total were 134 made three-point shots (37 percent) during the 2006–07 NBA season.^[25]

Butler had one adult daughter, Raven, who he lived with at the time of his death.^[26] He starred in Trina's music video "Here We Go".^[27] Butler was close friends with fellow NBA player Lamar Odom and was seen in episodes of his television show Khloé & Lamar.^[28]

On January 31, 2018, Butler and his partner (initially misidentified as his wife),^[29] singer Leah LaBelle, were killed instantly in a high-speed car accident in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, after he lost control of his Range Rover on Ventura Boulevard and crashed violently into a strip mall parking lot.^[30] Autopsy reports showed traces of methamphetamine, oxycodone and marijuana in Butler's body, and a blood alcohol content of 0.118%.^[31]

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
*	Led the league

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2002–03	Miami	72	28	21.0	.362	.292	.731	2.6	1.3	.3	.6	7.5
2003–04	Miami	45	0	15.0	.476	.463	.762	1.4	.5	.2	.3	6.8
2004–05	Miami	65	15	18.5	.399	.373	.771	2.3	1.0	.3	.4	6.5
2005–06	New Orleans/Oklahoma City	79	20	23.7	.406	.380	.693	2.9	.5	.4	.6	8.7
2006–07	New Orleans/Oklahoma City	81	38	27.4	.398	.369	.644	3.2	.8	.5	.7	10.1
2007–08	New Orleans	51	8	17.2	.350	.331	.839	2.0	.7	.3	.4	4.9
2008–09	New Orleans	82*	74	31.9	.433	.390	.782	3.3	.9	.6	.7	11.2
2009–10	L.A. Clippers	82*	64	33.0	.409	.336	.841	2.9	1.4	.4	.8	11.9
2010–11	L.A. Clippers	41	2	18.1	.323	.326	.667	1.9	.7	.2	.4	5.0
	Chicago	6	0	4.3	.545	.571	.000	2.0	.0	.0	.0	2.7
2011–12	Toronto	34	14	13.3	.308	.273	.583	1.9	.6	.2	.1	3.2
2013–14	Indiana	50	2	7.6	.464	.419	.571	.8	.3	.1	.2	2.7
2014–15	Washington	70	1	20.1	.422	.387	.791	2.6	.8	.4	.3	7.7
2015–16	San Antonio	46	0	9.4	.471	.306	.688	1.2	.5	.3	.5	2.7
Career		809	266	21.3	.403	.362	.747	2.4	.8	.4	.5	7.5

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2004	Miami	10	0	5.8	.409	.333	.000	1.1	.2	.1	.0	2.1
2005	Miami	12	1	15.2	.373	.367	.333	1.5	.6	.1	.1	4.7
2009	New Orleans	5	5	31.6	.459	.526	1.000	3.0	.2	.2	.8	10.6
2011	Chicago	3	0	2.3	1.000	1.000	.000	.3	.0	.0	.0	1.0
2014	Indiana	10	0	6.3	.357	.417	1.000	.5	.1	.1	.1	1.7
2015	Washington	2	0	3.5	.000	.000	.000	.5	.5	.0	.0	.0
Career		42	6	11.2	.407	.417	.857	1.2	.3	.1	.1	3.5

^[32]

• Career statistics from NBA.com and Basketball Reference