Jimmy Butler is still with the Minnesota Timberwolves despite the fact he requested a trade a few weeks ago. Well, if you ask Butler, he made it clear a few times that he doesn’t see a long-term future with the team before his trade request, but as we know now, Butler wants out.
The issue is Butler isn’t the kind of guy who wants to sit out when he could play, so despite the weirdness surrounding his current situation, reports indicate he’s going to take the floor once he’s fully ready to return following offseason wrist surgery. On Wednesday, Butler took an apparent step towards a return to the Timberwolves, as Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported he went through a practice with the team.
Jimmy Butler practiced with the Timberwolves today, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 10, 2018
Wojnarowski’s news comes after Anthony Tolliver was … let’s say non-committal about whether Butler took the floor with his teammates on Wednesday.
Anthony Tolliver on Butler practicing: "He was … around. That's really all I gotta say about that."
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 10, 2018
As for how the practice went, Wojnarowski has more details, and they sound kind of not great. Wojnarowski reports that things were “vociferous and emotional,” with Butler going at just about everyone.
All-Star Jimmy Butler participated in Minnesota's practice, a session that included him verbally challenging teammates, coaches and front office, league sources told ESPN. Butler was vociferous and emotional at times, targeting Thibodeau/Layden/Towns/Wiggins. Story soon on ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 10, 2018
A lot can be read into this, especially on the heels of trade talks breaking down with the Miami Heat over the weekend and the Houston Rockets turning down an offer from the Timberwolves on a Butler deal. Perhaps Butler realizes the team will do things on its own time and there’s not much he can do, or maybe he just really wants to play basketball and is willing to swallow his pride to make sure that happens. And maybe — just maybe! — Butler realizes the front office doesn’t want to move him, which is leading to him taking the approach of “destroying things from the inside” to get a trade to move along. Only he knows.
Regardless, we can all safely assume that Tom Thibodeau, who hasn’t wanted to move Butler at all, reacted to Butler taking the floor at practice like this, even if things were apparently feisty.
