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The Timberwovles of Minnesota will be deprived of two of their main players tonight, the absence of a player apparently coming because he asked to sit down.
Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said after the training today that swingman Jimmy Butler would miss tonight's home game against Utah Jazz (8 ET, NBA League PassThe team and Butler said the absence was due to "general pain and preventive rest," but Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic report the opposite.
According to Charania and Krawczynski, Butler chose to sit tonight In addition, this could result in a prolonged absence of training. Here are more of Krawczynski:
Jimmy Butler does not play in the Timberwolves game Wednesday night against Utah, the last stage in six weeks of confrontation between the disgruntled All-Star player and the team that has not yet accepted his wish to be traded, said league sources at The Athletic.
Butler showed up for the team shootaround on Wednesday morning, but did not participate, sources said. At the end of the session, he had a brief conversation with coach and president Tom Thibodeau about his decision and declined the interview requests.
Thibodeau said that he would sit for "preventive rest and general pain". But the Timberwolves had a rest day Tuesday and also have a day off Thursday before starting their trip on the west coast. Thibodeau denied that the absence was related to the request for exchanges that engulfed this team before the start of the training camp.
"Basically, he missed all of the training camp, so he has a general pain," said Thibodeau.
However, ESPN's Rachel Nichols spoke with Butler, who "strongly rejected the idea that he is sitting tonight in protest." Butler told him that he was planning to be in the arena for tonight's game.
– Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 31, 2018
For Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Butler also expressed the wish to accompany the team on his trip against the Golden State Warriors on Friday (10:30 am ET, ESPNThe Houston Rockets, Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers are still part of the teams interested in trading for Butler, but Wojnarowski writes that Thibodeau is not ready to seriously negotiate an exchange.
Thibodeau spoke with Butler and his team's medical staff about his absence for Wednesday's game. However, Butler told his associates that he was planning to play against the Warriors on Friday night, sources told ESPN.
Butler and his representative continue to express their frustration at what they view as Minnesota's inaction in processing his transaction request, and they prompted their owner, Glen Taylor, to speed up the process, said sources.
Rachel Nichols of ESPN corroborated Wojnarowski's report
Butler's name has been the subject of commercial rumors since the start of the training camp. After tonight's game against Utah, the Wolves have five days to go and Thibodeau would not say that Butler would participate in this next trip.
Thibodeau said that Butler's absence tonight was not related to impending transactions.
– Chris Hine (@ChristopherHine) October 31, 2018
Thibs would not say, absolutely, that Butler would be on the next trip
– Kent Youngblood (@BloodStrib) October 31, 2018
Goalkeeper Jeff Teague will also miss tonight's game because of a knee contusion. There is good news on the horizon for the Wolves, however, as striker Andrew Wiggins (bruise right) should play. Thibodeau told reporters that the team would wait to see how does Wiggins behave in pre-match warm-ups before deciding on his status tonight. Wiggins was injured on Oct. 22 against the Indiana Pacers and missed Wolves' last three games.
Wiggins is averaging 15.8 points, three rebounds and two assists per game this season. Teague is averaging 12.7 ppg and 6.9 rpg, but is shooting 35.9 percent this season. Butler leads the Wolves in scoring (22.5 points per game) and scored 32 points in the team's last game, a home win on Monday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Houston Rockets are reported to have recently attempted to restart commercial negotiations to acquire Butler, offering four first-round picks in Minnesota.
According to Zach Lowe of ESPN, Oct. 31 is a crucial date for Houston's pursuit of Butler. This is the second anniversary of Houston's acquisition of Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss from Phoenix Suns (for veteran Ryan Anderson). At this point, Houston could include one or both salaries in a commercial package.
After all the disruptions caused by Butler's trade request that went public a week before the start of the training camp, no agreement was reached.
According to many reports, Glen Taylor, owner of Butler and Wolves, has reached an agreement based on the fact that the Wolves continue to seek an exchange for Butler and Butler agree to rise to the occasion. Taylor confirmed it in a recent interview with the Star TribuneThat's Sid Hartman.
Per Wojnarowski, Taylor could be more interested in Thibodeau's future draft picks. However, these choices could become important commercial assets for the Wolves, which they could use in other transactions or encourage other teams to accept the big contract of the great man Gorgui Dieng in an exchange.
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