NBA Trade Rumors: After not being traded in a timely manner, Jimmy Butler decided to take matters in his own hands as he set practice on fire. Will it change anything, though?
It’s been nearly a month since it was announced publicly that Jimmy Butler wanted the Minnesota Timberwolves to trade him. And because the team had not really attempted to complete a deal – and when it had the chance, proactively killed it – Butler decided it was time to take his demand to the next level.
That’s when Wednesday afternoon practice occurred, or as what it’ll now be known as “the Jimmy Butler practice.”
In short, Butler lit the practice on fire, called out some of his teammates and a few individuals management and then did an interview with ESPN after, if that wasn’t enough.
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Here is exactly what happened in the words of ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
"Butler was vociferous and intense throughout the scrimmages, targeting president of basketball operations and coach Tom Thibodeau, general manager Scott Layden and teammates, including Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, league sources said.As the GM watched on the sidelines during a scrimmage, sources said that Butler yelled to Layden: “You f—ing need me, Scott. You can’t win without me.”"
It got so bad that the Wolves elected to cancel practice, with no media availability, Thursday. If you think that could be passed off as normal, sure. However, considering that Tom Thibodeau was talking about how the team needed practice time just last season, it doesn’t add up.
You have to point at what happened yesterday as being the culprit in the team shutting down the offices today (from the outside world).
But the big question is this, why did they elect to shut everything down today? Was it because they’re attempted to try and fix it all, and figuring out what to do next from a PR standpoint? Or is it because they’re saying “screw it, let’s get him out of here.”
That’s what needs to be figured out next. It’s the next step to this puzzle. Jimmy Butler went code red on Wednesday afternoon. He clearly wants out, and made it even more public if that was even possible.
Will it make a difference, though? We shall see.