Minnesota Timberwolves: Jimmy Butler to play Friday at Warriors?
By Ben Beecken
Contradicting a previous report, it now sounds as if Minnesota Timberwolves’ All-Star Jimmy Butler will suit up at Golden State on Friday night after sitting out Wednesday’s game.
Early on Wednesday, Minnesota Timberwolves fans were greeted with the news that All-Star Jimmy Butler would be sitting out the evening’s home contest against the Utah Jazz, and that the absence could be the start of an indefinite leave.
The idea is that Butler’s absence could portend a trade, as our own Trey Flynn laid out on Wednesday afternoon.
This reporting came from the reliable Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, so there didn’t seem to be much chance that it was erroneous.
Here’s what Karwczynski reported:
Butler started contemplating not playing on Tuesday night and made the final decision on Weds. mornings sources tell me and @ShamsCharania. Wolves termed it"general soreness and precautionary rest" but Butler informed Thibodeau this morning.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 31, 2018
But not so fast. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (and Charania’s former colleague at Yahoo!) reported a different side to things less than an hour after the above was posted.
Sources: The Timberwolves suggested that Jimmy Butler rest vs. Utah tonight and there’s an expectation that he will join the team on flight to Bay Area to play Golden State on Friday. Teams talking to Minnesota about trades say that the asking price remains steep.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 31, 2018
Indeed, Wojnarowski is reporting that Butler fully intends to play against the Warriors on Friday, and that this was not a decision made with the idea of forcing the Wolves’ hand in a trade.
Wojnarowski’s updated story later in the afternoon included the following quote from Butler, obtained by ESPN’s Rachel Nichols.
"“Because my body is hurting and I don’t want to go out there and risk an injury, people make stuff up?” Butler said in a text to Nichols. “What are they going to do when I show up and hoop on Friday?”"
And so the saga goes on…
It’s impossible to expect anything less than this sort of a situation playing out more than a handful of times throughout the season. It clearly isn’t healthy for the team, as they will have a lineup and rotation that is constantly evolving as they try and stay afloat in the Western Conference.
To make matters worse, Jeff Teague is out on Wednesday night due to a sore knee suffered in a collision with LeBron James on Monday night. Andrew Wiggins remains questionable but Tom Thibodeau told the media that he “should be ready”.
If nothing else, Butler’s absence means that rookie Josh Okogie will have every opportunity to continue his strong stretch of play even if Wiggins returns to the lineup.
dark. Next. Trade ideas between Wolves and Rockets
We’ll have postgame reaction here at Dunking With Wolves after Timberwolves vs. Jazz. Stay tuned.