Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 best trades of the 2010’s decade

Number 2 – Jimmy gets the Wolves back into the playoffs

No, I will not sell out and put this atop my trade rankings.

Jimmy Butler is one of the best two-way players in the league and was did exactly what Wolves fans hoped he would do in his lone full season in Minnesota – get the team back to the playoffs. That feat alone gets this trade to into my top two, because it was a huge milestone for a franchise so desperately needing to make it back into the yearly playoff conversation.

The two-guard from Marquette followed up his best season as a pro with an equally stellar 2017-18 campaign. Butler put up 22.2 points, 5.3 boards, 4.9 assists, 2.0 steals per game, while shooting a career-best 47.4 percent from the floor and 35.0 percent from 3.

Only five players in the NBA averaged 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists (rounding up from 4.9), while notching at least 1.5 steals per game. The other four players? Harden, Westbrook, Steph, and Boogie. That is some pretty damn good company for Jimmy Buckets.

Butler will always be a polarizing figure in Wolves history. Almost everyone was in favor of the move at the time it happened, but most of those same people are furious that it took place looking back at it today. I will always be grateful for the memories that Jimmy brought us in getting back to the playoffs in 2017-18, capped off by an incredible 31-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist game in a Game 82 victory against the Nuggets at Target Center that secured that playoff berth.

When looking at this trade from a front office perspective, it was a precipitous, all-in move that lacked critical foresight. As a front office, you cannot just trade away a rising star in LaVine, a key piece that would fit into the lineup perfectly in Markkanen, and a defensive pitbull in Dunn unless you know for a fact that Butler will re-sign with the team long-term.

While you can point the finger at the front office for paying Wiggins the money instead of saving it Butler (which you could easily argue that by all intents and purposes was the wrong move) and how that ultimately led to Butler wanting out, I think that is a foolish blame assignment.

Wiggins was coming off a season in which he averaged 23.6 points and 4.0 rebounds on 45.2/35.6/76.0 shooting splits as a 21-year-old.  Nearly every front office in basketball would have paid Andrew that money over a 28-year-old Butler, who had missed 15+ games in four of his first six seasons. While yes, the Wolves had Butler’s bird rights and could have gone deep into the hard cap to pay him, it would have been a financially crippling move with almost no way out if things went south.

As a front office, you have to be prepared for things like this. You knew Wiggins was in line for an extension, as was Butler. If you do not think the player you are trading for is worth a max contract extension, then why trade the farm in order to bring him in? Trading for the star who came from nothing and banking on him accepting something less than the maximum money he deserves at his first opportunity to secure it is a bonehead idea and ultimately keeps this trade in the two spot.

In the end, I am happy that Jimmy got his money and his preferred destination down in Miami. None of us would pass up an opportunity to live in Miami Beach for the next four years and make $141 million doing it.