Minnesota Timberwolves: What could Cleveland offer for Jimmy Butler?

One of the many teams reportedly interested in trading for Jimmy Butler is the LeBron-less Cleveland Cavaliers. What could Cleveland offer the Minnesota Timberwolves in return for the All-Star?

The Cleveland Cavaliers were not one of the options that Butler supposedly gave the Minnesota Timberwolves regarding his requested trade locations.

But after all, if a player is requesting a trade, they don’t really have a choice in the matter. Remember we saw Kawhi Leonard head to the Raptors instead of an expected L.A. landing spot, and just over a year ago Kyrie Irving landed in Boston and not in one of his four preferred location.

Jimmy Butler could be next.

Here was ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski calling out the Cavaliers specifically as a potential landing spot:

With trade talks reportedly heating up with the Miami Heat, it’s remains unknown how much longer we’ll be waiting on news. But if talks with Cleveland do go further, what would the Cavs offer?

Cleveland’s big offseason move was, of course, to re-sign Kevin Love. Cleveland gave Love a four-year, $120 million extension, which considering the Cavs are essentially now rebuilding, automatically makes him the team’s centerpiece. Plus, Love is immovable for six months from the date of his extension anyway. (An eventual Kevin Love return to Minnesota would be a sweet hit of nostalgia, though….)

We could see a couple names from the Cavaliers’ championship-winning team as potential return for Butler; both J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson have two contracted years with the team with salaries in the mid teens-of-millions.

Whether Thibs and the Wolves want them may be another story.

Cleveland also have a number of young players that could offer potential to the Timberwolves, if they are looking to add more projects for the future. Players like Cedi Osman and Sam Dekker are on reasonable contracts and could develop on the Wolves’ second unit, but Minnesota’s abundance of young players may make this addition less appealing to Thibs if he’s still avoiding anything that might resemble a rebuild.

A player that would surely help with the Wolves’ 3-point woes is Kyle Korver. His age and experience in the league would make him an asset to the Wolves locker room as a veteran, and he could slot into Butler’s vacant starting slot.

With two years and $7.5 million per year left on his contract, Korver would be a significant cap saver over Butler and would need to be shipped along with another player because of this.

The ESPN Trade Machine tells us that the Timberwolves shipping Butler along with Taj Gibson could bring a return of Korver, Smith and Thompson. Now, parting with two ex-Bulls is something Thibs probably isn’t planning on doing, so something like this may be either last resort or a sign that Thibodeau may be on his way out and owner Glen Taylor is pulling the strings.

Another potential trade could see a package of Butler and Tyus Jones being sent to Cleveland for a return of George Hill and Cedi Osman. This one is due to the rumors surrounding Jones potentially looking to be traded earlier in the offseason, although those rumors have since subsided. There would surely be a pick or two involved as well to balance things out a bit more.

A final option we’ll look at is a trade that would see Korver coming to Minnesota along with Jordan Clarkson. The Trade Machine says that only Butler would be needed to make this trade successful from a salary perspective, and despite a predicted 11-game defect to their win total, this trade would bring some hope to the Wolves in the form of shooters.

Korver and Clarkson each have two years left on their respective contracts, and combined they are making less than what Butler.

Of course, it all depends what type of return Thibodeau and the rest of the front office are looking for, and if Cleveland offers what they’re after. With a reported 13 teams in the mix, anything could happen.

News is likely to come soon on Butler’s trade situation, but we’ll just have to wait and see what the Wolves can get in return.