Jimmy Butler Hanging Out with Marky Mark, Coaching his Daughter
I love Mark Wahlberg. Just cannot get enough of his Boston accent.
Apparently he’s been hanging out with Sixers’ free agent Jimmy Butler, per his Instagram account:
View this post on Instagram
Girls ball the best!!! My baby girl has a new basketball coach @jimmybutler ❤️
Butler has actually known Wahlberg for some time.
Their friendship is explained in a 2016 Chicago Tribune article, after the jump:
Butler and Wahlberg first met in 2013 while Wahlberg filmed “Transformers: Age of Extinction” in Chicago.
A noted sports fan partial to his hometown Boston-area teams, Wahlberg and some lifelong friends accepted an invitation from the Bulls to play pickup basketball at the Berto Center, the former practice facility in Deerfield. Butler ended up participating and then joined Wahlberg’s group the next night.
Sure, they talked basketball, a passion of Wahlberg’s. He appeared in “The Basketball Diaries” as he made the transition from successful singer to actor in the mid-90s. But their connection moved beyond sports to similar life perspectives.
Out of nervousness and respect for his time, Butler said it took him awhile to follow up on Wahlberg’s invitation to stay in touch. When he did, Wahlberg invited Butler to his house on the Bulls’ next West Coast trip. That visit led to two shared offseason trips to Paris with Wahlberg’s group, as well as Butler attending Wahlberg’s kids’ sporting events.
Pretty cool relationship, if you can get over the fact that Wahlberg is a Boston sports fan.
I particularly enjoyed this scene from The Departed:
