James Caron Butler (born March 13 1980 in Racine, Wisconsin) is a professional basketball player, currently playing small forward for the Los Angeles Lakers.

He grew up playing basketball at Maine Central Institute , in Pittsfield, Maine at the power forward position. However, standing 6' 7" and weighing 250 pounds he was drastically undersized. Butler was still a great player and earned a scholarship to The University of Connecticut to play for coach Jim Calhoun. Under Jim Calhoun, Butler lost 15 pounds and developed his perimeter game, and moved to the shooting guard position after his freshman year. He had a solid sophomore season, but bloomed during his junior year.

He was a lottery pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, selected with the 10th overall pick to the Miami Heat. He is remembered for his comments on draft day after nine teams passed over him, saying that he was going to make them pay for the rest of his career. In his first season with the Heat, he averaged a stellar 15 points and 5 rebounds. During his second season his stats fell slightly to 9 points and 4 rebounds, with a injury-hampered effort all season. He played in only 68 games in his second year. In 2004 he almost made history with the Heat, coming 1 game from defeating the favored Indiana Pacers in the conference semi-finals. At the end of the season he was traded along with Lamar Odom and Brian Grant to the Lakers in exchange for Shaquille O'Neal.