Minnesota Timberwolves: Waiting to trade Jimmy Butler proving to be the right move

Multiple reports on Friday have suggested that the Minnesota Timberwolves are revisiting talks to trade Jimmy Butler. But is waiting still the best option?

Jimmy Butler requested a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves nearly two months ago and he’s still a member of the team, having played in four of their five games thus far in the regular season.

At first, it seemed somewhat foolish.

The obvious move would have been to jettison the guy who wants out as soon as possible, with the idea of having a clean break and a fresh start at the beginning of the regular season. The Wolves would have been able to integrate any players received in a Butler trade onto the team before the season started, and they could have gone about their business sans Butler.

Instead, the Wolves allowed things to fester, with the height of absurdity coming when Butler showed up for what was a contentious and volatile practice — one of just two practices he attended during the preseason.

Butler didn’t don a Timberwolves jersey until the season opener in San Antonio on Oct. 17, and sat out the Saturday, Oct. 20 game in Dallas for rest on the second night of a back-to-back.

For as much as there is an argument to be made for trying to create leverage by putting Butler on the floor and acting as if everything is rosy, the overarching reason for hanging onto Butler is almost certainly due to Tom Thibodeau’s stubbornness that evidently knows no bounds.

It’s hard to give the Wolves credit for taking the rest of the league up on the dare to play games with a cranky Butler on the floor alongside the very players he wants to get away from, but that’s what they’re doing and it appears to be working in terms of driving up the asking price.

Don’t forget that the Wolves didn’t start with leverage beyond pitting bidders against one another; the whole world knew that Butler wanted out and the sooner Minnesota moved him the better.

Now, the Houston Rockets are reportedly offering as many as four first-round draft picks in exchange for Butler, and that’s quite the haul regardless of where those picks land in the first round. Of course, the salaries — not to mention the health of the players — coming back to the Wolves likely aren’t all that attractive, and we all know how much Thibodeau wants to keep his team in the playoff mix this season.

Also on Friday morning, it was reported that the Miami Heat have reopened trade talks with the Timberwolves.

Clearly, Thibodeau is just crazy enough to wait this out until a) he is offered a literal king’s ransom, or b) owner Glen Taylor forces him to pull the trigger. And the tactic just might work.

If the Rockets have actually offered four first-rounders, than perhaps the Wolves can squeeze another asset out of the Heat beyond what they reportedly offered on the weekend prior to the start of the season.

At this point, any damage done by keeping Butler on the roster into the start of the regular season has already done. The offers aren’t going to get any worse, and the only real risk is that Butler gets hurt.

Why not keep Butler on the roster and bank a few more wins before pulling the trigger on a move? What we don’t know is just how involved Taylor is at this moment, which could tip the scales heavily when it comes to how quickly a move might go down.

As much as it would be a breath of crisp, clean, fresh air to get Butler out of town and put a bow on this thing, the Timberwolves just might be best-served to be patient and intentional with what their next move is when it comes to the Jimmy Butler situation.

Stay tuned.