Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 blockbuster Jimmy Butler trades to Wizards
By Trey Flynn
The Minnesota Timberwolves 4-time All-Star Jimmy Butler is sitting out against the Portland Trailblazers as the Wolves’ roster drama continues. The only NBA team that can equate to the roller-coaster of the Wolves’ franchise has to be the Washington Wizards, could they be a trade destination?
While it’s quite possible that the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ Jimmy Butler can be traded to literally any team in the league, there have been several organizations consistently brought up.
The more reported potential trading partners range from the Miami Heat, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, or even the Philadelphia 76ers. Some other quieter teams in the fight for Butler are the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, and the Washington Wizards.
As I previously noted, it’s possible for any team to make a deal for Butler and that’s why I constructed 30 Jimmy Butler trades to every NBA team yesterday, just click here to read that massive piece.
Fortunately, Minnesota isn’t the only team that’s having problems with their roster. Adrian Wojnarowski as well as Zach Lowe of ESPN reported first that Washington was included in the teams fighting for Butler a few weeks back, which means there could’ve been interior issues longer than we thought in D.C.:
"Via, ESPN “The Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers are among teams interested with Butler, league sources said. The Brooklyn Nets have interest, but they haven’t been engaged recently with Minnesota, sources said. Washington and Dallas are among teams who’ve gauged the asking price on Butler too, league sources said."
If you don’t know anything about the issues in D.C., just imagine the drama Jimmy Butler created, but with multiple players on the roster.
Ranging from All-Star to All-Star, to a misunderstood and recently benched player.
Kristian Winfield from SB Nation summarized these D.C. issues in clearer depth below:
"Via, SB Nation “We’ve got guys that’s worried about who’s getting shots. …You should never worry about that,” he said, via The Athletic’s Fred Katz. “No matter if you’re missing or making shots, you gotta be able to compete on the other end. You can’t do it on both ends of the floor, you don’t need to be playing.” So did Beal. “Sometimes, we have our own agendas on the floor, whether it’s complaining about shots, complaining about playing time, complaining about whatever it may be,” Beal said. “We’re worried about the wrong shit, and that’s not where our focus needs to be. And it’s just going to continue to hurt us.” Head coach Scott Brooks came over the top and gave a reason why he’s been giving more minutes to Kelly Oubre Jr. over Otto Porter recently. “I like the way Kelly’s playing” Brooks said. “Otto, he has to just keep playing and can’t worry about your shots and worry about your shot-making, but Kelly is playing well.” Otto Porter was then asked if he agreed with Wall’s and Beal’s perspective about players having their “own agendas.” Porter: “I can’t say that. But you gotta play together. We can’t have our heads down…So we gotta figure, hey, we gotta play for each other.”"
I think we can all objectively read this and come to a consensus that the Washington Wizards may need to blow this roster up, and this drama isn’t necessarily “new” news.
The Wiz have had internal struggles for a very long time, which included John Wall and former-big man Marcin Gortat, indirectly and directly throwing shade at each other last season. And unfortunately for Gortat, that drama landed him in a Clippers jersey this past Summer.
Or maybe that was fortunate for him? Time will tell.
I expect we’ll see something similar with the drama that got Gortat kicked out of Washington this season. And with the Wizards hoping to make another run in the playoffs a deal should be made to get this roster back together.
If they don’t make a move, the Wizards will continue to sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 1-7 record, only in front of the Cavaliers (1-8).
In these next few trade ideas, we’ll be attempting to move Jimmy Butler for one of Washington’s “big three” in John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Otto Porter.
First up is Washington’s own, self-proclaimed, misunderstood alpha dog, Mr. John Wall.