The Jimmy Butler and Kawhi Leonard trade that needs to happen

Besides a grumpy Gregg Popovich and some intriguing quotes from teammates, Kawhi Leonard hasn’t came out and said anything for himself on this whole ordeal with San Antonio.

Luckily, we’ve had great reporters like Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne to get engaged with sources on Kawhi’s side of the fence.

With Leonard only playing nine games last season – only averaging 23.3 minutes per game – it’s been hard for San Antonio to get the trade package they’ve been seeking all summer.

Ultimately, we could see San Antonio waiting out until trade deadline for the 2018-19 NBA year with reports of Leonard not being afraid to sit out this season if he’s not dealt from San Antonio. And while here at Dunking With Wolves we haven’t been shy about posting proposed trades for Kawhi Leonard (click here and here), we haven’t had any tangible sources on who wants out of Minnesota.

Now we might actually have some traction, for better or worse.

Jimmy Butler hasn’t been one to shy away from how he feels about the game of basketball. Especially when it came to Minnesota’s other best players, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns:

"Via, Sporting News “Sources familiar with the situation told Sporting News that Butler is uncertain about playing with Wiggins — Butler had problems last season with Wiggins, his work ethic and his approach on the defensive end of the floor. Thibodeau has had similar problems with Wiggins in the past, too, and he had some hope that bringing a tough-minded veteran like Butler into the locker room would spur Wiggins to improve. It didn’t”"

Butler has also recently been reported by Joe Cowley of the Chicago-Sun Times to be frustrated with the ‘nonchalant attitudes’ from his younger teammates, specifically Karl-Anthony Towns.

To be frank, not every journalistic source is factual, so this could all be hearsay.

Since then, Butler’s camp has came out and said that if Jimmy wanted to say something he would speak his mind (which I wholeheartedly agree with).

But at the end of the day, Jimmy Butler and Kawhi Leonard haven’t came out and denied any of these allegations – not that they have to – but they aren’t invisible from the news. Moreover, when you’re a multi-million dollar athlete, executives and reporters may need to know about your career choices faster than myself if I decided to switch writing jobs (we’re good FanSided).

After all of this nonsense from both parties and franchises, I now have the trade that needs to happen between Minnesota and San Antonio.