Another day, another update to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Jimmy Butler saga as training camp is set to kick-off in less than a week.
With media day next Monday and training camp beginning on Tuesday, there are somehow still new revelations almost daily in what has turned into a full-on saga between All-Star Jimmy Butler and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The latest rumor included a meeting on Monday, Sep. 17 that may have been intended to include a trade request. (There’s also a solid breakdown of the situation from The Ringer’s Haley O’Shaughnessy here.)
As it turned out, that meeting didn’t happen.
Then, on Monday evening, Butler himself spoke out on Twitter.
exactly why people need to stop believing what you see on the internet.. I didn’t have no damn meeting today... its tomorrow.. i wonder what else people write and people believe hmmm...
— Jimmy Butler (@JimmyButler) September 18, 2018
Timberwolves fans took this and ran with it as potentially positive news, and understandably so, as the majority of rumors to this point have been overtly negative.
Also on Monday, NBA.com’s David Aldridge added fuel to the fire of optimism for Wolves fans.
"Jimmy Butler’s unhappiness in Minnesota will reportedly be addressed today in a meeting between him, Tom Thibodeau and GM Scott Layden. I’m told, though, that while Butler has serious questions about the direction of the franchise, he’s still willing to hear Minnesota out, and isn’t dead set on demanding a trade elsewhere. Stay tuned."
Of course, the meeting was apparently pushed to Tuesday, so who knows if there’s any validity to the other stuff in this blurb. Then again, maybe that’s the media report that Butler was disputing, which would be a complete disaster of a turn of events.
After all, Wolves fans were treated to this odd breaking news around lunch on Tuesday.
Minnesota's Tom Thibodeau is traveling to Los Angeles to meet with Jimmy Butler today, league sources tell ESPN. Original plan had been a meeting in Minneapolis, but that changed in the past 24 hours.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 18, 2018
Never a good sign when the meeting location is changed under circumstances like this, cementing Butler as the one in a position of power with a complete and utter power move.
Tom Thibodeau now has the appearance of going to L.A. to grovel at the feet of his All-Star. And fans in Minnesota won’t be psyched about their superstar not wanting to walk among them just six days prior to the start of media day and training camp festivities.
This certainly feels like the most damning turn of events yet, but it would also be shocking to see the relationship between Butler and Thibodeau deteriorate so quickly that the Wolves boss would be forced to complete a trade with little to no leverage, just weeks before the start of the season.
At any rate, things continue to get messier. And this whole thing has to come to a head, with real basketball just days away. Stay tuned.