As we reach the third anniversary of Jimmy Butler's meeting with Tom Thibodeau in Los Angeles, at which Butler asked the Timberwolves for an exchange, all kinds of uncomfortable questions must be explored.

One of them: what will happen if the Wolves dig up and refuse to exchange Butler? What is Butler's latest game in this scenario?

I can not imagine a nice result in this case, and I do not think it's very plausible. Butler being soon traded, even if Thibodeau might not want, remains the most likely and obvious result.

But otherwise … well, Door 1, that is Butler, is coming back one way or another and the atmosphere of the Target Center is extremely toxic. The team is probably fractured and plays badly, and even if they play well, a cloud hangs over the surface as Butler will move away for nothing at some point.

Gate 2 is more intriguing, but not more enjoyable: what would happen if Butler remained steadfast in his commercial demand and refused to report to the team?

During the media day, Thibodeau said two weeks ago that Butler needed more time to get back in shape after a hand surgery during the off-season. That was the official reason why he was not in camp, even though everyone thought it was just a convenient excuse to keep Butler out of the way while the exchange continued.

He said at the time that Butler should join the team in good health – maybe a week, said the coach – but here we are two weeks later.

I asked Thibodeau on Tuesday if Butler – who had been training in various local gyms for two weeks and had been sighted against Tuesday at Life Time Fitness in Plymouth – is still excused for being away from the gym. # 39; team.

Thibodeau said yes.

When asked when there was a time when absence would be absent, Thibodeau replied, "It's fluid." We will always do what is best for the team. This is the important thing that everyone needs to understand. If it means that he is here, then he will be. If it means that he is not there, he is not there either.

According to the rules of the league, if the absence of Butler is not excused, he has 30 days to report to the team. MSN noticed a few weeks ago that the big problem with this is that if Butler does not do it within 30 days, he will not accumulate any years of service in the league – and therefore can not withdraw from his contract and become a free agent next year, when he will clearly want to cash a big salary.

This 30-day clock probably did not start counting as long as his absence is excused for injury. So it's here that Butler's hand injury – even if it's a sham – comes in. The Star Tribune and other media reported that Butler's meeting with Thibodeau three weeks ago was not the first time he expressed the desire to leave Minnesota.

It was perhaps the most definitive opportunity, a line in the sand, but the feeling had been communicated this summer.

Let's go back to July 26th. This very short and very strange press release (at the time) was sent by the Timberwolves: "The guard / attacker of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jimmy Butler, underwent a successful elective procedure on July 24 . 2018. Butler has already resumed his off-season activities. "

I remember thinking that it seemed strange at the time, because why would an announcement about a seemingly minor procedure have been announced?

In retrospect, two things may have happened: 1) Butler was establishing that he had a procedure in the off-season and 2) the Wolves, in announcing it, were trying to minimize it as much as possible by describing it as elective and saying returned to off-season tasks.

The first part seems the most important at the moment, because this hand is used as an official excuse to explain why Butler is not with the team. And as long as Butler is injured with a previously established illness, or can say that he is still injured without being challenged, he can collect paychecks and save time.

Butler could have chosen a knee procedure since he had just finished a season in which he had missed a meniscus injury, but maybe one knee would have been a red flag for the other teams?

Kawhi Leonard may have made a version with San Antonio last year, when he had played only nine games with a mysterious calf injury before being traded for the off-season in Toronto. Pro Basketball Talk noted that Mo Williams had shot something similar.

Would the ultra-competitive butler really be willing to spend a whole year at his younger age just to prove a point? Hard to say. Maybe even doubtful?

But that's his advantage, and the worst of all worlds for the Wolves is that Butler never plays a minute here AND they do not get anything for him in an exchange.