Butler was born in McComb, Mississippi and attended McComb High School and originally committed to play at Mississippi State University but failed to qualify academically. He later enrolled at Laurinburg Institute, then transferred to Coastal Christian Academy prep school in Virginia Beach. Although he wanted to sign with the University of Tennessee in 2004, he decided to declare for the 2004 NBA draft, the first player that year to do so.\n', '

Butler went undrafted in the 2004 NBA draft and signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was then cut training camp. Butler played briefly with the New York Knicks for the 2004–05 NBA season, scoring ten points over three games. Butler finished the 2004–05 season with the Continental Basketball Association where over 40 games with the Great Lakes Storm he averaged 18.1 points (tenth in CBA), 10.7 rebounds (third), and 1.45 blocks (third) per game. He later was drafted in the 2005 AAPBL draft. However, the league folded soon thereafter.\n', '

When Larry Brown was hired as the New York Knicks\' head coach, it was unclear what sort of role Butler would have. After the preseason, Brown publicly commented on how happy he was with Butler, and considered him his fourth rookie (after Channing Frye, Nate Robinson, and David Lee). After a rocky start, Butler was soon praised as being the Knicks\' best center, with Eddy Curry and Jerome James having disappointing starts to their Knicks careers. For the 2005–06 NBA season Butler played in 55 games averaging 13.5 minutes, 5.3 points (54.4% field goal accuracy) and 3.3 rebounds per game. He earned US$641,748 with the Knicks.\n', '

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