Kevin Love is NBA Instagram MVP with his Jimmy Butler meme game
Add this to his list of titles: content creator.
Love is the undisputed king of the Jimmy Butler memes, using his Instagram account to satirize Butler's saga with the Miami Heat. Adding even more enjoyment to Love's antics is that Love also plays for the Heat.
Don't know if the Heat are having a good time and don't know if Butler is having a good time, but Love is enjoying the spectacle while showing off his meme game with an impressive knowledge of pop culture and aptitude for applying it to Butler's situation.
IG is a visual and audio medium so it needs to be consumed as such. But it started on Jan. 3, the day the Heat suspended Butler seven games. Love posted a photo of a person sporting a hairstyle like the one Jimmy Butler wore in his media day photo 2023 with the caption: 'Last 3 hours – 'Emo State' ".
All things Heat: Latest Miami Heat news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.
The same day, Love posted again with the caption: 'Entering my Winston Wolfe (sic) phase' with a clip from "Pulp Fiction" when the character played by Harvey Keitel rings a doorbell and says, 'You're Jimmie right? This is your house?'
'Sure is.'
'I'm Winston Wolf, I solve problems."
'Good, we got one.'
'So I heard.'
Love followed up with a clip from "The Godfather Part III": 'Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in' with the caption 'Jimmy after yesterdays news.' In the next post, Love wrote, 'LIVE LOOK – Jimmy after his meeting with Micky #getmyjoyback" (Heat owner Micky Arison) and a clip from "The Wolf of Wall Street" when Leonardo DiCaprio's character says, 'I'm not (expletive) leaving! The show goes on! This is my home! They're going to need a (expletive) wrecking ball to take me out of here!'
It is brilliant, and interspersed in Love's Butler memes are photos of Love with Ralph Lauren, both men dapper in tuxedoes; a heartfelt post about the California wildfires; a post of Love, whose uncle is Mike Love of The Beach Boys and whose dad, Stan, was a Beach Boys employee, wearing his dad's Beach Boys jacket; and a tender moment between dad and daughter.
He uses a clip from "Scarface" captioned 'Jimmy dining out in Miami this evening' with Al Pacino's Tony Montana character saying, 'You don't have the guts to be what you want to be. You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your (expletive) fingers and say, 'That's the bad guy.' '
Love has kept it going throughout three Butler suspensions, including the most recent on Monday when the Heat suspended Butler indefinitely.
The caption: 'Bam (Adebayo) in Spo's office (Heat coach Erik Spoelstra) pouring his heart out over this whole situation …' with a video from "The Green Mile" with Michael Clarke Duncan's character telling Tom Hanks' character: 'I want it to be over and done with. I do. I'm tired boss. Tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of never having me a buddy to be with or tell me where we's going to or coming from or why.'
Love is on point and never more so than when the caption is 'Pat's response (Heat president Pat Riley) to 'anywhere BUT Memphis' – a reference to potential trade destinations – with a clip of Brian Cox's Logan Roy character from "Succession" saying, '(Expletive) off!' more than 20 times.
Love has taken a situation that has serious components and shed light on the silliness of it all, too. It has resonated with an NBA audience including players. His 10 Butler-memed IG posts have received nearly 350,000 likes and more than 210,000 shares.
After one Butler-related post, LeBron James replied with nine crying laughing emojis. James' agent, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, responded to a post: 'This is so good.'
Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson, Tristan Thompson, DeAndre Jordan, Max Strus, Kevin Hart and Bobby Cannavale have replied. One user wrote: 'Kevin Love's IG is the best TV show of 2025.'
When questioned by another user that Love must want to leave Miami too, Love responded: 'not even a little bit! Love the people I work with.'
Love may no longer be an All-Star on the court, but he's the NBA Instagram MVP in 2025.
Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt
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