The NBA’s most dramatic offseason storyline, Jimmy Butler on the Timberwolves, still has no ending and I, for one, am in shock at that.
The NBA is in full swing.
The Golden State Warriors are blowing inferior teams out of the water via the three-ball, the New York Knicks are finding every which way to break my heart into a million pieces, and the Minnesota Timberwolves off-season drama has somehow gone completely unaddressed seven games into their season.
Everybody with an internet connection knows what happened in the Wolves camp this year but here’s a brief recap …
- Jimmy Butler allegedly spends some “quality time” with Karl Anthony-Town’s girlfriend.
- Jimmy Butler gets in an Instagram work-ethic battle with Andrew Wiggins and his brother.
- Jimmy Butler alphas the life out of the Timberwolves starters by calling Rachel Nichols to come for an interview prior to dominating the starting five with the third unit.
- Jimmy Butler makes sure everybody on planet Earth knows that he dominated the starters with the third unit in the interview with Rachel Nichols.
That alone is plenty enough to get Butler on a plane to the first team that calls (thank god it wasn’t the Knicks), but Tom Thibodeau has yet to move the star wing because he hasn’t received a deal worthy enough.
Enter the Houston Rockets.
The Rockets offered Thibs four (4) (four) first round draft picks for Butler, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. That should have been the end of it. The Wolves could have run away with an enormous win by getting Butler out and giving them incredible flexibility going forward.
Not on Tom Thibodeau’s watch.
Thibodeau had the audacity to turn around and say, “You want to give us four first round picks for a guy that is literally begging to get shipped off? How about you throw Eric Gordon into that deal.”
Unbelievable.
By the end of these negotiations, Thibs might own a 21 percent stake in the city of Houston and the right accept a forfeit on behalf of the Rockets in every game for the next seven years.
All of that to pair up a player who loses is mind when he doesn’t think people are hustling enough with James Harden and Carmelo Anthony. I can’t even imagine a universe in which that ends poorly.
