Butler is the son of Richard Butler. By the time he was eleven years old, he was competing in out-of-state basketball tournaments. Butler grew up in Reserve, Louisiana and attended Riverside Academy, where he joined the school's varsity basketball team as an eighth grader. As a junior, he averaged 20.4 points and 6.7 assists and was named first team all-state. Butler averaged 27.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, 8.4 assists and 3.0 steals during his senior season and was again named first team All-State as well as Player of the Year by The Times-Picayune. Rated a four-star prospect, Butler committed to play college basketball at Alabama over offers from Virginia and Baylor. He picked the Crimson Tide because he was confused why Baylor was not recruiting him harder despite his coach Tim Byrd being friends with Bears coach Scott Drew; the Bears were short on scholarships and long on guards.
College career
Butler enrolled at Alabama, but did not participate in the team's summer workouts and requested an unconditional release from his letter of intent in order to transfer to Baylor University. Alabama released him from his commitment in August. A scholarship had opened up at Baylor due to the early retirement of Jake Lindsey. Butler was eligible to play immediately after transferring due to his release. He averaged 10.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists as a true freshman and was named honorable mention All-Big 12 Conference and to the league's All-Freshman team. Butler was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on February 25, 2019 after averaging 14.5 points, 4.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds in conference games against Iowa State and West Virginia. Butler was named the 98th-best collegiate basketball player going into the 2019-20 season by CBS Sports. On November 5, 2019, Butler scored 30 points and made a career-high eight three-pointers in a 105–61 win over Central Arkansas. He was named the MVP of the 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational and the Big 12 Player of the Week after averaging 17.7 points, 3.7 assists and 2.7 steals over three games as the Bears won the tournament. On January 11, 2020, Butler scored 22 points as Baylor defeated Kansas for its first win ever at the Phog Allen Fieldhouse. As a result, he earned his second Big 12 Player of the Week honors on January 13. On February 3, he was added to the revised 20-man Wooden Award watchlist and was named one of ten finalists for the Bob Cousy Award. At the conclusion of the regular season, Butler was named First Team All-Big 12 and a third team All-American by the Associated Press, USBWA, NABC and Sporting News after averaging 16.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game. Following the season, Butler declared for the 2020 NBA draft.
