During his introductory press conference with the Minnesota Timberwolves last Thursday, Jimmy Butler made the surprisingly bold decision to publicly share his cell phone number so that his critics could call him directly if they had any issues with him.

This immediately created some major publicity surrounding the situation as numerous fans called to personally chat with the All-Star forward, which led to him posting a video of himself FaceTiming with a fan during a flight.

However, this has also created plenty of phone calls and text messages being directed toward Michael Byrne of Evanston, IL, who shares a nearly identical phone number to Butler. The flurry of calls and messages began at around 10:30 A.M. last Thursday, which was shortly after the press conference had ended.

In fact, within the first 48 hours following Butler's announcement, Byrne received a total of 243 phone calls and 334 text messages. There were many that stood out from the bunch that only magnified to him how important the 27-year-old, who he didn't previously know since he doesn't follow sports, had now quickly become to the city of Minnesota.

“One guy wanted his real estate agent friend to sell me a condo in Minneapolis,” Byrne told ClutchPoints. “Another guy wanted to meet up for some beer and darts. I (also) received a text message from a guy telling me how God has blessed me and then he proceeded to send me photos of his family.”

There were also many on the opposite end of the spectrum directed toward Byrne when he informed those that contacted him that he was not, in fact, the Timberwolves' new star forward as it led to plenty of vulgar responses tossed his way.

“Most say sorry and hang up. Some fans I messed with and would talk or text as Jimmy Butler and when they realized I wasn't Jimmy Butler they would say ‘Get a life &#%-hole,'” Byrne said. “But they are the ones spending their day dialing a sports figure's alleged phone number, so who is the real &#%-hole?”

All of this led Byrne to search out a resolution to the issue on Friday by contacting the Timberwolves himself, but the organization told him that there was no way they could help him out. On top of that, he also texted the phone number that Butler gave out to deliver a personal message to the three-time All-Star.

“I'm not sure how to get a hold of Jimmy Butler, but I did text the actual number he gave out,” Byrne said. “And told him to tell his fans to dial more carefully but he never responded back.”

Meanwhile, both Channel 2 and Channel 5 Chicago News stations were unsuccessful in getting a comment on the situation from either the organization or Butler. Also during this time, Byrne got in touch with the Timberwolves' public relations department in hopes of the team issuing a statement to help sort out everything, but he has yet to receive a response.

“I'm not looking for anything other then if they could issue a tweet or statement saying ‘Please check the number your dialing and give out Jimmy Butler's correct number,”” Byrne said. “I never heard anything back from them. Like I said, I'm not looking for anything.”

Despite all of that hassle, Byrne hasn't considered changing his phone number because he has used it on the resumes that he has sent out to the numerous jobs that he has applied to. He is in this current dilemma because of double hip replacement surgery that he underwent six months ago that has left him out of a job, which only makes things more difficult as he has had to have his phone nearby to check every phone call because it could be a potential employer.

At the same, there now appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel for this entire ordeal as the volume of attention has significantly dropped over the last two days falling to around 65 calls and 74 text messages over that span.

All in all, it is an experience that Byrne has drawn some enjoyment from by putting his own little twist on the situation.

“Overall the whole situation has been really funny,” Byrne said. “The best way to cope with the situation is to mess with the fans who call and text.”