Tom Thibodeau Plans On Using Jimmy Butler In Shorter Segments During The Timberwolves Opener

Against all odds, Jimmy Butler will make his season debut for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night after requesting a trade from the team last month and assuring the front office that he will opt out of the final year of his contract and head elsewhere in the 2019 offseason. Head coach Tom Thibodeau said his workhorse guard will play in shorter segments against the San Antonio Spurs tonight, per Kyle Ratke, given that Butler didn’t see the floor in any preseason games.

Whether or not Butler actually plays fewer minutes is unclear from the language of the tweet. However, his minutes will presumably have to be realigned so that he shares the court more often with Minnesota’s second and third units, lineups that reportedly destroyed the Timberwolves starters last week during the first practice Butler attended after his trade demand.

Minnesota clearly needs the production their four-time All-Star provides after having a miserable preseason. The Timberwolves were blown out of their final four preseason games, finishing with a particularly dispiriting 143-121 loss to Milwaukee.

Butler claims he is ready to take the floor with the teammates that have had to suffer his public and private wrath over the last few weeks. Per NBA rules, he cannot publicly comment on wanting to be traded, so he has been full of platitudes about loving basketball and wanting to compete.

“[I] just want to hoop,” Butler told the assembled media. “Go out there with my soldiers, go to war.”