A few weeks after Caleb Martin joined the Miami Heat, he still hasn’t had much social capital with his teammates. But he’d been a backup player for most of his career and knew it was important to get along with the stars—and Jimmy Butler, a six-time All-Star and leading scorer for the team, was undoubtedly Miami’s biggest.
Martin had heard that Butler had an aggressive personality, and that he was known to bark at teammates and coaches. But Martin wasn’t thinking about the potential consequences of upsetting Butler during a pickup game on one of those early days. He made a move just as Butler was passing to him, and the ball sailed out of bounds. Martin can tell Butler he’s frustrated. He walked up to Butler and said, “Anything you have a problem with, come and say it to me.”
For a split second, Martin wondered if his audacity would bother Butler. He wasn’t even on a full-time NBA contract yet. But she didn’t.
“He didn’t see it as disrespectful or anything like that,” Martin said. “As much accountability as he places on others and holds others to, he takes it. It’s a two-way street. He allows for responses.”
Butler’s reputation for being daring and aggressive is not without merit, and he has called out Martin’s mistakes many times. Butler isn’t shy about airing his grievances, yelling at team rallies, at opponents, or sometimes nothing at all. He is loudly cheering him on.
The Heat’s opponent in the NBA Finals, the Denver Nuggets, has a different kind of leader in Nikola Jokic, who is much calmer. He does not make speeches or punish his teammates, and rarely shows much emotion during matches.
Their contrasting styles illustrate ideas leadership experts have highlighted for decades. The basic ethos that both players follow seems to matter more than how their leadership appears.
“It’s a great example of avoiding these kind of fixed notions of ‘what does it mean to be the best kind of leader?'” said Peter Bregman, an author and executive coach who works with leaders of major corporations. “Because here you have two completely different people driving in very, very different ways and with equal effectiveness. And so it kind of betrays that concept that there are best practices in how to do that.”
Professional Basketball offers a helpful guide to understanding leadership. The best NBA players make split-second decisions in front of thousands of people live and millions more watching on TV. Their actions are scrutinized out of court, and they are sometimes blamed for their teammates’ mistakes. But no matter the outcome of their decision-making, they must often return to leading the same people the next day.
When Nuggets players are asked about Jokic’s leadership style, they say he leads by example, more than words.
“He’s a professional in every aspect of the game,” said Nuggets guard Kentavius Caldwell Pope. “Just seeing him, seeing him on the court, makes everyone want to play basketball with him and want to play better.”
When Butler’s teammates are asked about his leadership, they allude to the edge in his personality, but that quality comes from a passion they can understand. He holds people accountable, they say, but their collective goal—to be the best team in the NBA—is evident in Butler’s criticisms.
He also takes on the responsibility that comes with being a team leader.
“He’ll do anything for you,” said Miami Heat center Cody Zeller.
Some scholars would explain these differences using the language of leadership that focuses on tasks versus relationships. Afsaneh Nahavande, a professor of management at the University of San Diego, sees Butler as a more task-oriented leader and Jokic as a more relationship-oriented leader.
“Every leader accomplishes something, so everyone has a mission in mind,” said Nahavande. “But do you approach it by pushing the mission and pushing people? Or do you approach it by letting people develop their own thing and focusing on making sure people are happy?”
This leadership framework was examined in the 1960s by psychologist Fred Fiedler, who studied leadership among high school basketball players. Basketball provided a well-controlled way to understand how a group of people who need to accomplish a single task together might respond to different leadership styles.
Fiedler also found that leaders’ successes depend greatly on their environment.
Butler’s method didn’t work everywhere. When he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, his teammates did not respond well to his demanding nature, and Butler left the team after insisting on a trade.
But in Miami, the so-called heat culture requires excellence, commitment, and a thick crust.
“My style of leadership works here,” said Butler, quoting several air quotes about “leadership.” He added, “It really is a match made in heaven. I love it here.”
Butler’s style sometimes leads to outbursts, as in March 2022, when Butler and Heat coach Eric Spoelstra yelled at each other during a game and had to be held back by other players. Today, Spoelstra speaks of Butler with respect.
“I don’t want him ever to apologize for who he is and how he handles competition,” Spoelstra said. “It’s intense. It’s not for everyone, and we’re not for everyone. That’s why we think it’s such an incredible marriage. We never judge him for that. He doesn’t judge us for how crazy we are.”
Nuggets also require distinction, but the language they use around each other is often gentler. They love to talk about their collaborative nature.
“We have guys who understand that being selfless is a big part of being a Denver Nugget,” said head coach Michael Malone. He added, “You have to have guys collaborating – on and off the field – coming together and sharing a common goal.”
It hints at a culture where a less confrontational style, like the one Jokic espouses, can work.
Jokic’s teammates seem to respond well to this calmer form of leadership, although some have tried to help him make use of a more controlled demeanor at times.
DeAndre Jordan, a 15-year veteran, pulled Jokic aside during training camp to encourage him to be more outspoken.
“At first he was like, ‘Brother, I don’t do that.'” Jordan said.
But Jordan and the other veterans kept cheering him on. A few months into the season, however, they saw him begin to assert himself more in rallies and provide feedback to his teammates. However, he never oversteps the bounds of what makes him comfortable.
“We don’t want him to be someone he’s not,” Jordan said. “I’m sure he doesn’t want to be like that.”
Despite Jokic and Butler using very different tactics, they earn the trust of their teammates.
Chris Adkins saw evidence of how to develop this confidence when he watched some of their interviews. Adkins, the academic director for leadership development at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, saw the manifestation of research that he said showed that “ability, benevolence, and integrity” are three key ingredients to building confidence.
“Their players seem to endorse it, whether it’s a more blunt approach or a quieter one, because they know deep down that this is someone who has high ability, conforms to great integrity, practices what they preach, and walks the path,” Adkins said. “But they are also committed to us, not just to themselves.”
Jokic is known as a selfless player. He averaged 9.8 assists per game this season. He has often said that his basketball spirit came from a coach in Serbia who told him that when you pass you make two people happy, but when you score only one person is happy. He avoids credit when talking to reporters and is quick to praise his teammates.
Butler grew up outside of Houston and was kicked out of his home as a teenager. After high school, with little interest from major college programs, he spent a year at a junior college in Texas, before going to Marquette. Although Butler makes fewer passes than Jokic, he also plays with an unselfish style, instilling confidence in his teammates.
Butler refused to call other Heat players “role players”, saying he preferred to just think of them as teammates. When asked if he was too negative in the Heat’s Game 1 loss, when he only scored 13 points, Butler said he wasn’t and that he plans to continue looking out for his teammates throughout the series.
Newcomers to Heat may take some time to understand how Butler works.
Kyle Lowry joined the Heat in 2021, two years after Butler. Lowry was a six-time All-Star guard coming from a leading role in Toronto, which won a championship in 2019. He explained that he loves Butler’s thirst to win and his dedication to his teammates, but also said his personality is “very different.” “
“He might say some things or he might do some things that you might be like: ‘Oh. Stop. “But it comes from the best part of his heart,” Lowry said.
How does he know?
“We’re around him every day,” Lowry said, before giving a good dig. “Unfortunately. But fortunately.”