One of the most well-known practices in NBA history happened back in 2018. Jimmy Butler, who had requested a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves, showed up after spending several weeks away from the team and apparently beat the starters with a group of reserve players while challenging just about everyone in the building. Butler would then go sit down with Rachel Nichols of ESPN and basically brag about the entire thing.
The whole thing was pretty surreal, and not long after, Butler got a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers. And somehow, someway, we are still getting stories about what happened that day. During a recent episode of the Club 520 Podcast, one of Butler’s teammates from that Timberwolves squad, Jeff Teague, added a new detail about how far Butler went to get his point across. Head to the 5:39 mark of the below video for the whole thing.
Teague explained what we already knew: Butler didn’t show up to any practices in the offseason, the team was going through training camp, and then, he showed up three days into camp, much to the delight of then-Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau. While the entire team was getting warmed up, Butler was off to the side stretching. And then, Thibodeau called for a scrimmage, which made Butler jump up and scream “I’m playing.”
Thibodeau tried to put Butler with the starters, but he said he wouldn’t play with those guys, instead opting to play with players who weren’t going to make the team so he could guard Karl-Anthony Towns. Butler, of course, dominates the game.
“Time runs out, they win, they beat us, like, 18-6,” Teague said. “And Jimmy’s going crazy — ‘Y’all think that team can win without me? I’m him! Pay me! Pay me!’ Mind you, he ain’t took off his Jordan warm-up yet. He finally takes it off, he’s got the Timberwolves shirt on, but he cut the Minnesota out of it, so it’s just chest. He cut the Minnesota out his shorts, it’s just shorts. He out here with a hole in the middle of his shirt, in the middle of his leg.”
Teague apparently laughed so hard that he cried, right up until he started getting mad that Butler said the starters couldn’t win without him, which was a slight against Teague. Butler’s team then beat the second unit while the starters were on the sideline, and after the game, Butler ran into the locker room. The starters then took it to the second unit in the next game.
“We beat ’em, we all run in the locker room like, ‘Jimmy, bring your ass back out! We wanna play again!'” Teague recalled. “Jimmy gone. Jimmy at home.”
The team went through practice, showered, and saw Butler’s interview with Nichols. And in Teague’s eyes, all of this is “one of the most iconic moments I’ve ever been a part of in basketball.”
