Head coach Tom Thibodeau announced Wednesday that Jimmy Butler and Jeff Teague won’t play Wednesday night when the Wolves host Ricky Rubio and the Utah Jazz at Target Center.
Teague has a knee injury, but what’s Butler’s excuse for missing a highly anticipated home game featuring the return of Ricky Rubio?
“Precautionary rest and general soreness,” according to Thibodeau.
Butler, one of the NBA’s hardest-working players, needing rest in the first month of the season after a day off and with another day off coming Thursday is about as believable as the UFO spotted in Prior Lake earlier this month.
According to The Athletic, this is Butler’s latest attempt to make it very clear that he’d like to be traded as soon as possible. What’s more is that Shams Charania says tonight’s absence could lead to an extended absence from Butler.
Jimmy Butler is taking next step in six-week-long process aimed at getting the All-Star out of Minnesota by sitting tonight against Utah, and could lead to extended absence for Butler, league sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 31, 2018
Butler, however, told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols that he is indeed battling soreness and his absence tonight has nothing to do with his trade request other than resting to avoid more serious injury.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Butler plans to join the team on its flight to California and play in Friday’s nationally televised game on ESPN against the Warriors.
Remember, Wolves owner Glen Taylor told Butler that he’d work to trade him so long as Butler plays hard. Not playing at all is not playing hard.
Today is also significant because it’s the first day the Houston Rockets are allowed to trade Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss, whose contracts would likely need to be traded elsewhere to clear enough cap space to get Butler.
The Rockets, per an ESPN report last week, offered Minnesota four first-round draft picks for Butler, to which another ESPN report said Rockets shooting guard Eric Gordon would need to be included before he’d consider the offer.
The situation, as it has through this saga, remains fluid. The Wolves do not play again after tonight until Friday. Possibility remains that Butler could return for that game if he’s not traded by then.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 31, 2018
