After months of media frenzy and disruption for the Minnesota Timberwolves, four-time All-Star Jimmy Butler has been traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Finally, it happened.
As the dust settles, we know that the Philadelphia 76ers will be getting a perennial superstar and someone who will give his all on the court, even if he doesn’t necessarily want to re-sign with the team next summer (we’ll see about that, as the Sixers obviously think he will).
Moreover, this deal that the Minnesota Timberwolves got couldn’t have been better, at least from my perspective.
The Timberwolves get back a solid haul in Robert Covington and Dario Saric that will make the team more balanced all the way around. This will also give the reigns back to Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins to continue what will hopefully be a new playoff tradition in Minnesota.
However, most NBA analysts believed this to be one of the crazier trade transactions due to the way it was unprofessionally handled. Here was ESPN’s Zach Lowe’s report on head coach Tom Thibodeau’s comments from media day:
"Via, ESPN“Thibodeau told reporters on Monday that, ‘We’re not going to make a bad deal,’ and there is a belief among interested teams that Thibodeau is reluctant to bring strong offers to his owner for examination because he is still holding out hope to get Butler on the floor for Minnesota this season."
Lowe and Adrian Wojnarowski have been on top of the Jimmy Butler situation from the beginning, and if they said there were a lot of issues, you can believe them.
While Wolves fans are surely sad to see Jimmy Butler leave, it’s a new beginning in Minnesota and it’s probably for the best now that Towns has signed his rookie extension and the drama in the locker room can be put to rest.
After many months of writing trade ideas for Jimmy Butler, I can say that I’m truly happy the front office decided to part ways with Butler even if he was the one that ended up severing the ties.
To go in detail the package that is being sent to Minnesota, we have The Athletic to thank for that.
Shams Charania of The Athletic has reported that Jimmy Butler has been traded to the Philadelphia 76ers and the package includes this deal below.
Minnesota has traded Jimmy Butler and Justin Patton to Philadelphia for Robert, Covington, Dario Saric and a 2022 second-round draft pick, league sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 10, 2018
We’ve detailed deals close to these in our past trade ideas with the Sixers, which you can read here.
While we’re happy that Jimmy Butler is finally gone and the frenzy of the locker room can come to a halt, getting Robert Covington and Dario Saric in this deal is one of the better possible hauls that the Wolves could’ve possibly received to help them win now.
Moreover, it’s now been rumored that point guard Jerryd Bayless has been added to the deal and he could be a new backup guard for the Wolves as they look to package Gorgui Dieng‘s contract with, most likely, Tyus Jones to a team such as the Phoenix Suns, per rumors over past few months.
Overall, this deal gets an ‘A’ from Dunking With Wolves and we’re happy to add these young studs to the organization.