“Always give all you have doing what you love,” Butler said. “Never, ever let anyone tell you what you can or you cannot do.”

Earlier, the 33-year-old, last season’s Eastern Conference Finals MVP, said he hoped next year to help the Heat go one better than last month, when, as No 8 seeds, they made it to the NBA Finals before losing 4-1 to the Denver Nuggets.

“It was a great season as a whole but we came up short,” Butler said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and I am going to pick the Heat to win the championship in 2024.”

Kan, 19, who studies at Polytechnic University, said Butler’s story was “inspirational”.

“He was abandoned by family and wasn’t heavily recruited coming out of high school,” she said. “And he was not a hot prospect entering college, but he never gave up.”

Zhong added that he was initially “nervous” playing alongside Butler.

“I didn’t know we’d get to play with him – it’s so much fun,” he said. “But I’d rather play on the opposing team. I think it’s more fun to challenge him, and more meaningful, too.

Six-time NBA All-Star Butler was in Hong Kong to conclude an 11-day China tour in his capacity as an ambassador for the sportswear brand of Chinese former gymnast turned entrepreneur Li Ning.

Over 100 fans waited for more than three hours to see him in scorching heat at his first port of call, the brand’s flagship store in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district.

Butler, who had stopped in cities including Beijing, Xian and Chongqing before landing in Hong Kong the previous day, waved and blew kisses as fans chanted “MVP” at him.

“The way he lifted his team to a whole new level is inspiring,” said local basketball fan Tsang Tsz-hong, who added that he had idolised Butler for five years. “I like that he never gave up and always gave his best effort in everything.

“I shall never forget the image of him exhausting himself playing against the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals a few years ago.”

The veteran from Texas was the second active NBA player, after Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, to visit Hong Kong this summer. It is understood that former Heat superstar Dwyane Wade will also be in town towards the end of next month.

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