Pro 2 – Trading Butler gives young stars Karl Anthony-Towns and Andrew Wiggins the opportunities to grow
For the Minnesota Timberwolves, this move might be a case of getting pieces that fit better with the entire puzzle. The phrase that comes to mind for a better description might be for this trade the markings of “ addition by subtraction”.
While Butler did bring a Alpha mentality and winning by all costs spirit to the Wolves, that clearly hurt the development of the huge potential of Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony-Towns.
For Wiggins the removal of Butler gives Wiggins the best chance to become a very effective and productive NBA Player. Touted as the “Canadian Jordan” from his teenage years, as well as being the best player in college as a freshman on a Kansas team that also featured Joel Embiid as a teammate are just two points to show Wiggins great talents only have scratched the surface in the NBA.
Wiggins is projected to have Kobe Bryant level talent and having a Jimmy Butler was very comparable to the Lakers having to move All-Star Eddie Jones out of LA for the 20-year-old Kobe to finally reach for his supreme potential.
As for Karl Anthony-Towns the trade of Butler virtually hands the keys of being the Wolves’ franchise cornerstone to him to take that step forward. Anthony-Towns like Wiggins is also a former 1st overall pick in the NBA Draft and like Wiggins was compared to superstar NBA players entering the league.
With Butler bringing a Alpha Leadership style to the Wolves, it could of very well slowed the progress of the younger team-first approach natural to Anthony-Towns. Anthony-Towns can now reach for being in the same conversation as the aforementioned Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Anthony Davis.