Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jimmy Butler played a season-high 43 minutes in the Wolves’ 113-107 win against the struggling L.A. Clippers. It was the fourth consecutive 40-minute game Butler has played in four games this December.

After the game, Butler somewhat sheepishly commented about having to talk to Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau about the number of 40-minute games he’s been playing.

Jimmy Butler is not one to complain about playing a lot of minutes; he wants to be on the court as often as possible. He’s also no stranger to how Thibodeau likes to use his players. Butler led the league in minutes per game under Thibs in 2014-15.

Still, Butler is now 28 years old with a lot of miles on his legs and has suffered his share of injuries over the last few years. If even he's feeling the effects of all the minutes Tom Thibodeau has him playing, then you know it's going a bit too far.

It seems irresponsible for Thibodeau to keep playing his star player such consistently heavy minutes since it’ll just increase the chance of a significant injury. However, this has been the Timberwolves bench tactician’s style for most of his coaching career and it doesn’t appear as if he has intentions of changing anytime soon.