Sunday, on a playground on the shores of Lake Geneva, a player paid more than 37 million dollars during the next NBA season – that’s well over a hundred times the budget of the local men’s team Pully Lausanne Foxes – put on the baskets like everyone else, in front of an astonished audience. Enough to excite social networks, but also to motivate Lausanne residents to quickly get on their bikes for the chance of a lifetime: to challenge star Jimmy Butler, six times “All Star” in the North American league.
“At the beginning, he had just come to shoot, accompanied by a photographer, a cameraman and a man who takes care of his security, explains Jean-Claude Porte (46), who takes care of a Facebook page entitled “Vidy Basket Lausanne”, intended to arrange matches on the grounds in the south of the city. He wanted to be quiet and not too much that photos circulate. But then he called up players and started taking on team after team. He was demanding! It was even he who calculated the score. Butler lost one of the matches and he was not happy…”
People passing through and regulars of the place were therefore able to rub shoulders with the 32-year-old player, apparently on vacation in the area, before leaving on Monday for Paris, where he was expected at the local NBA Store. The back of the Heat also met at the Vallée de la Jeunesse and on the 3×3 fields of Beaulieu. “It demystifies the thing a bit, smiled Porte. 99% of people here only see players of this level on TV, so to find themselves facing him on a pitch… Especially since he was very humble”.
