Minnesota Timberwolves: Did Jimmy Butler give Wolves a deadline for a trade?

Has Jimmy Butler given the Minnesota Timberwolves a deadline by when he must be traded? If so, what does that mean, exactly?

The regular season starts in a week, and Jimmy Butler is still on the the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ roster.

It’s safe to say that it isn’t what anyone expected when the original trade request became public three weeks ago. But here we are, and there are reports that Butler is trying to force something to happen this week.

Early in the day on Tuesday, The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski reported that Tom Thibodeau met with Butler again on Monday to reiterate his desire to be traded. Thibodeau, of course, has reportedly been holding out hope that Butler would change his mind.

We don’t know if Thibodeau really thinks there is any chance at all that Butler wears a Timberwolves jersey again, although the repeated meetings seem to indicate that to be the case. Otherwise, it could be considered just another bargaining tactic from Thibodeau and general manager Scott Layden, as they continue and try assert some kind of leverage over teams who are looking to trade for the four-time All-Star.

And now, there’s a report out of Miami that Butler has issued a deadline of Friday for a deal to be completed.

It’s at least a little bit ridiculous. What happens if the deadline isn’t met? Butler has no leverage regarding when a trade is made; it isn’t in his interest to pretend that he no longer will sign an extension with the team he ends up with, and he has to either play for the Wolves or be fined if he isn’t traded. It would be ugly, of course, but that doesn’t mean that his arbitrary deadline means anything at all.

Of course, the Wolves should want to move him this week, too, so that any players they receive in return can practice with the team for a few days and the stink that’s hung over the squad in preseason can be washed away. Or, we can hope that to be the case.

The Five Reasons Sports Network also reported that Josh Richardson is not in the Heat offer to the Wolves, which flies in the face of the reporting of ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. And, quite frankly, if the offer doesn’t include Richardson than it is absolutely an offer that the Wolves should refuse.

It definitely makes sense for a trade to go down this week, but we could have said that each week for the last three and it wouldn’t have been wrong.

But, at the very least, Tom Thibodeau would like everyone to know that the Wolves won’t settle for a Richardson-less trade from Miami. And that’s where we stand.