As of now, the Minnesota Timberwolves are swatting all trade offers for Jimmy Butler and telling other NBA teams they intend to keep the All-Star forward.
Butler, who asked for a trade to the Knicks, Nets or Clippers earlier this week, will be a free agent at the end of the season so Minnesota does have some incentive to move him instead of losing him for nothing outright.
However, at this point President of Basketball Operations Tom Thibodeau and general manager Scott Layden are telling other teams that Butler is “an elite player” and they want to hold onto him, league sources told ESPN.
Thibodeau is worried trading Butler would harm the team’s ability to reach the playoffs for a second straight year after missing the postseason for 13 seasons in a row.
For teams that are interested in Butler, getting Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor involved may be the key to getting Thibodeau and Layden to budge.
Among teams probing for an avenue to make a Butler deal in near future, there’s a strong belief that working through ownership is the way to go. Taylor is attending league meetings today in New York. https://t.co/hokJ7uloML
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 21, 2018
The team has traded away star players like Kevin Love and Kevin Garnett in the past.
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