Minnesota Timberwolves: Jimmy Butler out tonight against the Mavericks

The Minnesota Timberwolves are flying to Dallas to play the Mavericks on their second game of their back to back – without their 4-time All-Star Jimmy Butler.

The Minnesota Timberwolves begin the season with a record of 1-1 and they have the Dallas Mavericks tonight in an away game that will be tough on their second night of their back to back.

The Mavericks haven’t won a game yet, so it’ll be tough for Minnesota to find some energy against this team as the Mavs are playing their first home game this season and the Wolves are going to be without Jimmy Butler.

With the Wolves winning their first game of the season at home last night, you could potentially see something similar tonight for Dallas who hopes to get Dennis Smith Jr. and Luka Doncic to take advantage of the weak perimeter defense that the Wolves may have tonight without Butler.

However, with all of the disadvantages that missing Butler brings, it does create a possibility of first round pick Josh Okogie to get minutes (which he hasn’t yet). Derrick Rose will most likely be given the starting nod at shooting guard, but it would be a better move to move Okogie there – or even just give him minutes off the bench.

If Jimmy Butler truly isn’t traded for a few weeks until Minnesota can find the right deal, starting Okogie now may give him some good experience before the Wolves are forced to play him more when Butler is moved.

Regardless of that roster decision, the Butler absence will also let Karl-Anthony Towns take over. He’s only averaging 10 points per game over his past two contests, mostly due to Andrew Wiggins taking the majority of the shots (averaging 21 points per game).

While I’d like to hope that Towns can take over tonight, there is also the possibility that newly acquired DeAndre Jordan for the Mavericks could hold him down all night with his defensive abilities.

Not only Towns, but every player will have their hands full on the Wolves roster tonight. Taj Gibson will be defending the leading scorer for the Mavs in Dwight Powell, and even though they’ve only played one game, there are a lot of good role players in Dallas.

Without Jimmy Butler this season (maybe even with), Dallas is potentially coming for the Wolves spot they had last year in the eighth seed. Moreover, if Butler isn’t moved for good enough assets to help the Wolves, you could see the Maverick surpass the Wolves in the standings this season.

So in a way, this game is huge for the Timberwolves when it comes to late-regular season when every team is fighting for a playoff spot, and win early on against the Mavericks would be huge.

The player match-ups to watch tonight are definitely Andrew Wiggins and Luka Doncic, as well as Karl-Anthony Towns and DeAndre Jordan. We’re assuming that Wiggins will grab Doncic because the Wolves don’t have a lot of athletic size outside of Wiggins in the starting lineup.

Expect a close game all the way through, you can check out a nice analysis of the game here at Dunking With Wolves later tonight.