Minnesota Timberwolves swingman Jimmy Butler is sitting out of the team’s game against the Utah Jazz. Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that he was doing so in an attempt to force his way out of Minnesota.
Jimmy Butler is taking next step in six-week-long process aimed at getting the All-Star out of Minnesota by sitting tonight against Utah, and could pk-callout to extended absence for Butler, league sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 31, 2018
Butler denied Charania’s report to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, saying he’s missing the game due to body pain.
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 31, 2018
Prior to Butler’s denial, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the team suggested that Butler sit.
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
Butler requested a trade from the Timberwolves in September, and that request (obviously) hasn’t been honored, even after Butler was especially aggressive toward the team’s players and management in one practice.
Butler has appeared in six of the Wolves’ seven games thus far, averaging 22.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.0 steals per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the field and a scorching 48 percent from 3-point range. The field-goal and 3-point shooting averages, plus the steals, would all easily be career-best numbers for a season if he maintains them.
