Long before the Minnesota Timberwolves started to look like a legitimate championship contender with Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns leading the attack, there was the Tom Thibodeau-coached version of the franchise that also featured the likes of Jeff Teague and Jimmy Butler.
Teague recently recalled those days during a Club 520 Podcast episode, particularly telling a story about that time he tried to convince Butler to stay in Minnesota.
“Jimmy’s my guy. I’m in a meeting bro, it’s me, you know how we do meetings, imagine me trying to convince somebody to stay somewhere. I’m like Jimmy come on bro, he’s like ‘Teague, you don’t even give a f**k'. I do, I do, where you going, he’s like ‘I want to leave', ‘I’m like you going to take me with you?'”
Teague and Butler arrived in the Twin Cities at almost the same time. Back in the summer of 2017, the Chicago Bulls parted ways with Butler by trading him to the Timberwolves along with Justin Patton for the young trio of Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine, and Lauri Markkanen. Shortly after that, Teague signed a multi-year deal with the Timberwolves.
Jimmy Butler's Timberwolves tenure
The Timberwolves brought in Butler with the vision of him providing the veteran presence and leadership that the team needed to turn things around. Minnesota had Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns at that time, a young and talented duo that the Timberwolves were banking on to become a force in the league.
Butler, however, didn't stay in Minnesota longer than Teague preferred. After one and a half season in Minnesota uniform, the former Marquette Golden Eagles star was traded by the Timberwolves to the Philadelphia 76ers with Patton in November of 2018 in exchange for a package that included Jerryd Bayless, Robert Covington, and Dario Šarić. The Timberwolves' decision to trade Butler to the 76ers came on the heels of a poor start in the 2018-19 season, as Minnesota lost nine of their first 13 games. They ended that campaign with a 36-46 record to miss the playoffs.
As for Teague, he continued to play for the Timberwolves until 2020 when he got his turn to be traded. Minnesota sent Teague to the Atlanta Hawks together with Treveon Graham for Allen Crabbe.
During the first season of Teague and Butler with the Timberwolves, Minnesota tasted some success. At that point, the T'wolves had not been to the playoffs in over a decade, but Butler and company managed to end that postseason drought by going 47-35 in the regular season — the franchise's best record since winning 58 games under Flip Saunders in the 2003-04 campaign. However, Butler and Minnesota's trip to the playoffs didn't last long, as they got bounced out from the first round by James Harden, Chris Paul, and the Houston Rockets.
During his short stint with the Timberwolves, Butler averaged 22.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.0 steals, and 0.5 blocks while shooting 47.4 percent from the floor and 35.5 percent from behind the arc through only 69 games in Minnesota uniform. Teague, meanwhile, averaged 13.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 7.1 assists, and 1.2 steals to go with a 44.0 field goal percentage and a 36.3 percent success rate on his threes in 146 games with Minnesota.
While Butler's Minnesota tenure is largely a forgettable one, especially when compared to the success he's had since then with the Miami Heat, he did contribute one of the wildest franchise stories to Timberwolves lore when he led a group of backups to a practice game win against Karl-Anthony Towns and the other starters.
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