The Jimmy Butler Examination

When Jimmy Butler arrived the whole narrative of the Timberwolves changed. The Wolves went from a Western Conference bottom feeder to a legitimate contender. Until Butler’s injury last season the Wolves held the 4th playoff seed (34–22) which would have given them a home playoff game. Instead, after losing Butler they almost fell out of the playoffs entirely by going 13-13 in the final 26 games and ending up at 47–35. This also resulted in the Wolves having to play a heart attack inducing battle against the Denver Nuggets on the last day of the season just to get the 8th seed. Nevertheless, the Wolves were able to turn a corner and Karl-Anthony Towns got his first All Star nod.

Fast forward to now and how things have changed. Reports from John Krawczynski of the Athletic stated that Jimmy Butler officially wants out of Minnesota and is demanding a trade to the Heat, Clippers, Knicks, or Nets. He has said he wants to be the star and take a team to the finals where he is the primary option. My question is how did the Wolves not offer him that to him?

Butler did not only dislike the young players work ethic, but also was searching to restructure his contract to a 5 year extension worth north of $190 million dollars. This was a power move from Butler firmly announcing that the Wolves would be his team for the future, being that Karl-Anthony Towns was due to sign his rookie…