Tom Thibodeau's recent offer to meet with swingman Jimmy Butler after meeting last Tuesday in Los Angeles made the All-Star forward feel skeptical, seeking out Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor for reassurance that trade talks were still under good faith, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.

The Minnesota brass' constant see-saw of indecision has confused and frustrated inquiring teams, who remain unsure of who to reach out to or what the Timberwolves even want as an acceptable package for Butler.

Initially, president/head coach Tom Thibodeau refused to trade Butler, claiming he was an elite talent fundamental to the team's success. That all changed when Taylor urged owners to reach out to the front office, even if it means to skip the line of command and call him personally to inquire about a potential Butler trade.

Taylor scolded Thibodeau and general manager Scott Layden, urging them to not only take calls from prospective suitors but also call teams to pursue a trade. This was soon followed by Thibodeau's last-ditch effort meeting with Butler, which took place before his Media Day obligations, hoping there would be something that could salvage their relationship in Minnesota.

That meeting made Butler unsure of Thibodeau's intentions, as he thought he had already made clear that his time in the Twin Cities had come to an end.

Layden is running the point in any trade conversations while Thibodeau gears up for training camp. In all fairness, blockbuster trades like this one can take more than merely a week to get done, and due to the sensitive nature of it, can prove quite difficult to muster in a span of mere days as opposed to weeks of fine-tuning.

Butler's trade request came awfully late, only a week before the start of training camp, putting the Timberwolves front office in a precarious position heading into the regular season.