The newest report about Jimmy Butler’s tenuous situation with the Timberwolves isn’t new other than that fact that it’s, well, new.
According to The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski, Butler remains focused on getting traded by the Wolves, having met with team president/head coach Tom Thibodeau on Monday to reiterate his request.
“Butler worked out in Minneapolis on Monday and talked with Thibodeau, making clear that nothing has changed in the last three weeks, sources said. It remains unclear when, or if, he will join the team in practice as they prepare for the season opener at San Antonio on Oct. 17.”
Butler has not yet joined the team for any preseason practices or games, and we’re well past the week-long period that Thibodeau said Butler was taking off for precautionary reasons, claiming this had more to do with rehabbing offseason hand surgery than it did Butler’s trade request.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Sunday that Minnesota and Miami were close to striking a deal that would’ve sent Butler to the Heat and Josh Richardson as the centerpiece to the Wolves, but talks crumbled late after the Wolves upped the asking price.
The Wolves open the regular season Oct. 17 against the Spurs in San Antonio.
Minnesota has already looked borderline awful and out of sync during preseason games, so any trade or reintroduction of Butler into the lineup would likely slow any team chemistry the Wolves are developing.
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