Photo:Ian MacNicol/Getty Images;Rich Schultz/Getty Images
Ian MacNicol/Getty Images;Rich Schultz/Getty Images
But Gauff was hardly surprised, she said.Months before, the six-time NBA All-Star asked her if she wanted Finals tickets, Gauff told reporters.
“This was before [the Heat] were in the playoffs. … He offered me tickets to see the last home game of the [regular] season,” she said. “Then he DM’d me a couple weeks later, asking if I wanted more tickets to see the postseason. I said, ‘I won’t be here. I’ll be in Madrid and then Rome and then France.’ ”
She continued, “And then he said, ‘Okay, when we make the Finals, let me know if your family wants some tickets. So, this was before we were even in the playoffs. This is before we lost to the Hawks for the first play-in game. I just felt like I knew that — everybody is like we have a 3% chance of making the Finals, but when he sent me that, I knew we were making the Finals because he didn’t say, ‘if we make the Finals,’ he said, ‘when we make the Finals.’ "
Rich Schultz/Getty Images
Gauff added that she waited to share the story until Butler’s prediction came true — but she did previously share his prognostication with her family.
“I remember screen-shotting it and sending it to my family and I was, like, ‘Oh, we’re going, we’re going to the Finals.'”
She continued, “He pretty much said we were going to the Finals before [Miami] even qualified for the playoffs, and I just really like that mentality of him.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The Miami Heat tip off against the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals beginning Thursday, June 1 on ABC.
source: people.com
