Glen Taylor and the Minnesota Timberwolves are in a tough situation now that Jimmy Butler is forcing his way out of town. They have little to no leverage to trade him and this is happening just prior to training camp. Taylor reacted to the situation at the owners' meetings.
To clarify, Taylor will not be in Minneapolis for the Timberwolves' Media Day or first couple days of workouts. Jimmy? Ha. TBD. https://t.co/05wGPCgEnC
— Steve Aschburner (@AschNBA) September 21, 2018
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, however, owner Taylor is very much open to trading Butler and is telling teams to call him for offers.
Obviously, Taylor doesn't want to speak to the media too much about this situation. The franchise is in crisis mode and they're trying to plug holes in what appears to be a sinking ship.
Of course, he's going to be disappointed that his team's best player is requesting a trade, but it's unclear what he plans to do to rectify the situation.
Steve Aschburner of NBA.com laughs at the idea of Butler showing up to Timberwolves' Media Day or the first couple days of workouts. This seems to indicate that Butler will force Taylor's hand and trade him prior to the season starting.
If Butler holds out from training camp, Taylor and the T-Wolves will lose even more leverage in trade negotiations. By not attending Timberwolves Media Day, Taylor is avoiding questions, but these questions aren't going away until this situation comes to a conclusion.
In truth, even though they won't get near the return Jimmy Butler should warrant, Taylor and the organization's best move could be to get a deal done as quickly as possible. The longer this situation draws out, the more of a distraction it becomes. A clean break — even if the return for Butler is underwhelming — could be the best course of action.
Follow Us
Subscribe