Jimmy Butler surprisingly attended practice with the Minnesota Timberwolves despite the fact that he is in the center of trade talks. Traditionally, players would either sit out or show professionalism while waiting but it seems the 29-year-old gave the T-Wolves a chaotic glimpse of things to come unless he is dealt soon.
Butler reluctantly joined his current team and seemed to bully his way around, Yahoo Sports said. He ended up hurling emotional and profanity-laced tirades during practice, something that was reportedly directed at Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.
While it is hard to visualize what really went down at T-Wolves practice, it does seem out of Butler’s character. But then again, his request to be traded has been something frustrating as well considering he was close to joining the Miami Heat until Minnesota tweaked the deal a bit. This was covered in detail in a previous post where the T-Wolves would have gotten Josh Richardson in exchange.
The good news is that only verbal tirades happened and nothing physical went down. There was an instance where Butler was guarding Towns, bellyaching and trying to psyche out the Minnesota center. Rather than engage, the 22-year-old player from New Jersey just went through the motions of the practice.
There were actually some players who got pumped up with Butler’s uncanny antics. However, that did not include Wiggins and Towns who were distraught by the whole ordeal. And from the way things are going, Butler may be indirectly twisting the arm of T-Wolves management to pull off something soon.
Butler eventually explained his actions during practice and admitted that emotions got the best of him. He goes on to explain that he is a competitor and has been out for so long according to NBA.com.
Hence, there seem to be two sides happening here. Butler may be back trying to whip up the boys and insert a kind of energy that would benefit the team.
The other is, of course, seeing a pampered superstar wanting to be traded. He has been in the basketball headlines for quite some time now and most see that as part of his frustrations.
Wiggins and Towns have yet to comment on the whole profanity-laced practice or may never will. Considering head coach Tom Thibodeau wanted them to focus for the coming season, things may have just gotten harder for the T-Wolves especially with the Jimmy Butler trade left unsettled.
The Heat have not closed the door on possibly acquiring Butler for as long as the assets and money involved are fair. Surprisingly, no other team has been mentioned aside from Miami for now.
