After an off-season in which it seemed like the N.B.A. never took a break, The New York Times talked to a few of the league’s stars about some of the other important things in their lives — anything but basketball.

First is Jimmy Butler, the four-time All-Star who joined the Miami Heat this summer after a deep postseason run with the Philadelphia 76ers. Part II: Kevin Love on his Instagram-worthy summer of travel.

MIAMI — The day before he won a gold medal with the United States men’s basketball team at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Jimmy Butler tried a form of game preparation that was completely foreign. He watched the men’s soccer final as a fan at Brazil’s famed Maracanã stadium.

It was the first soccer match that Butler, then 26, had ever attended.

“I watched the greatest soccer player of all time win gold as well,” Butler recalled. “You know who I’m talking about, right?”

As usual with the Miami Heat’s ever-edgy Butler, there was little subtlety in his delivery. He was, of course, referring to the star forward Neymar, whose goal and subsequent clinching penalty kick in a shootout against Germany finally secured Brazil’s first Olympic gold to go with its five World Cup crowns.

“He won gold in his own country, which is even better,” Butler said. “It was the first time I really paid attention to it and he was killin’ — look at 10 go. And the crowd was just going nuts. I went that one time, and that was it.”