Jimmy Butler Wants Out!
NBA teams can sometimes be unfair towards their players. Let me elaborate, if a player were to get hurt, you would think that NBA doctors working with him would release him back on the court when he’s 100% healthy. Well in Jimmy Butler’s case, it’s quite the opposite. After Butler’s hand injury, the Minnesota Timberwolves pressured him to get back on the court before his hand was fully healed. If Butler feels he is still injured, forcing him on the floor can be unfair not only to him but to the Timberwolves team.
As a coach, you should want all your best players on court, but you should also want them to be healthy and at their best. If not, there’s a chance that the player could injure themselves more than before and risk sitting out for a longer period of time. With all the confusion on whether Butler is healthy, he began to question whether he wants to play for the Timberwolves. To make things even more complex, it’s reported that Jimmy Butler wants to sit out until he is traded. This situation is problematic but Butler is technically still injured, so therefore he has the option of sitting out and resting his hand.
But Jimmy Butler’s injury is not the only reason why he wants to leave the Timberwolves. One thing Butler and his head coach Tom Thibodeau have in common is that they love hard, gritty, old-school play on the basketball court. Also, Butler has proven to be a team leader so when it comes down to his teammates, he does not have an issue speaking up or calling out certain people. There have been two occasions where he called out his team, one for playing soft and another for a tweet. In the first occasion, he talked about talent not being the only attribute to getting things done. After a game when the T’Wolves beat the Memphis Grizzlies: “We were just playing soft,” Butler said. “Whenever we play hard good things happen.”
To some that may sound like a player trying to motivate his teammates into working harder. But not everyone sees it like that, ‘everyone’ meaning his teammates. It has been rumored a few months back that the relationship within the Timberwolves core seems to be dysfunctional. Based on recent events, there’s proof that there may be some truth to that.
Bleacher Report reported back in September that Butler had a problem with former teammate Andrew Wiggins. After Butler made it known that he requested a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves, Wiggin’s older brother, Nick, commented “Hallelujah.’’ Even though he quickly deleted the comment, it was clear that there had to be some discord on the team.
With that being said, Butler’s decision not only affects his former team, but also the rest of the NBA. People have to remember that there is also risk in trading for a player they could perhaps sign in free agency or whether it’s worth giving up assets for a one year “rental’’ of that player. This could also affect the NBA playoffs because whichever team Butler ends up on, he can be beneficial to them, and detrimental to his former team.
Overall, Jimmy Butler’s trade is going to resurface as one of the biggest quandaries the NBA has to face.
