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The Minnesota Timberwolves have ruled out guard Jimmy Butler for Wednesday's 128-125 home win against Utah Jazz for a "preventive rest", Butler said.
Butler told Wednesday Rachel Nichols of ESPN that he did not want any pain by playing games after missing the training camp to escalate into an injury.
"Because my body is hurting me and I do not want to go there and risk an injury, do people make up stuff?" Butler said in a text to Nichols. "What will they do when I show up on Friday?"
The Timberwolves remain stagnant in the trade negotiations for Butler. While Houston, Miami and Philadelphia are among the teams that are very interested in Butler early on, there is a collective belief that Timberwolves president and coach Tom Thibodeau is not ready to seriously negotiate an exchange, according to a report. league source, Adrian Wojnarowski, of ESPN.
Thibodeau spoke with Butler and his team's medical staff about his absence for Wednesday's game, and the team announced that Butler would remain absent for "general pain and preventive rest."
Butler and his representative continue to express their frustration over what they believe to be Minnesota's inaction in responding to Butler's trade request, and they are pushing the owner, Glen Taylor, to speed up the process, sources said.
Butler scored 32 points in 37 minutes in Minnesota's home win Monday night against the Los Angeles Lakers, including five 5-point attempts in the fourth quarter. The players did not train on Tuesday, which made it strange to need to put away the four-star star guardian on Wednesday. Butler did not travel with the team to Dallas for his October 20 match, but that planned absence in a loss to the Mavericks came after he played the day before at the match. home opening.
"We knew that when you missed the training camp, it was actually his training camp, so there is pain," Thibodeau said Wednesday. what he feels.When he will be in pain, there will be a preventive rest. "
The wolves also judged the leader Jeff Teague was released on Wednesday with left knee pain. He injured her during the game against the Lakers when he hit LeBron James' knee. Thibodeau stated that Teague had undergone precautionary x-rays after reporting pain and swelling.
Andrew Wiggins played Wednesday after missing three straight games with a straight right quadriceps. He had 19 points in the win.
The absence of Butler and Wiggins on their wing allowed rookie Josh Okogie to see his playing time extended. Okogie, Georgia Tech's first-round pick, was 6-of-17 against the Lakers for a career-high 17 points.
"It's going to be tough, but we have that next man mentality," said power forward Taj Gibson. "Until now, Josh has been a big surprise for us."
The information provided by the Associated Press has been used in this report.
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