The stories coming out of Minnesota the past couple of days have been surreal. After weeks of Tom Thibodeau dragging his feet on a Jimmy Butler trade, the disgruntled star showed up to practice on Wednesday with the express purpose of turning everyone’s week into a living nightmare until he gets what he wants.
According to various reports, later confirmed by Butler himself in a conveniently-timed sit-down with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols after the fact, Butler had words for everybody in attendance, including GM Scott Layden, Thibs himself, and the Wolves young duo of Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, who are frequent targets of Butler’s righteous ire.
He then proceeded to beat up on the starters with the team’s third-string players, after which he went straight into his interview with Nichols to discuss his tactics and whether he believes the situation is salvageable (he does and he doesn’t). The media circus that ensued was enough for the Wolves to cancel practice Thursday, and the situation is no closer to being resolved than it was earlier in the week.
It wasn’t long before Timberwolves legend Kevin Garnett chimed in on what’s happening with his beloved franchise, and the man famous for his own fiery persona had a lot of thoughts on what he’s been hearing the past couple of days. Here’s what he told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic:
“You don’t think that I went crazy sometimes? Man, I was a damn Tasmanian devil,” Garnett told The Athletic in a phone interview. “I would say shit at (Kevin) McHale. I would say shit at Flip (Saunders). But it was all to motivate all of us. We had a big game against Chicago and I’m just raising the level to what I’m expecting the next day to be like.”
“I’m a T-Wolf for life, man,” Garnett said. “I’m ’Sota for life. I’ve always wanted better for not only the city and the franchise, but Wigs, KAT, those are my guys. I root for those guys. Gorgui Dieng. Those are my guys. I’m just hoping they can get through this rough patch and everybody can get on the same patch and figure it out. It’s a shit storm up there.”
“What’s really the shit storm is that can’t nobody keep shit in practice,” Garnett said. “What goes on in practice should always stay in practice. And what goes on between two conglomerates as businesses should always stay (private). Everything is so god damn public now.”
Beyond that, Garnett said that he believes both sides are somewhat delusional in this scenario, saying that Butler maybe isn’t worth as much money as he thinks because he’s not an A-lister like LeBron or Kevin Durant.
In any case, Garnett’s comments illustrate just how much things have changed since his day, when there was a clearer distinction between what’s made public and what’s kept private in regard to the inter-organizational machinations of an NBA franchise.
