It is pretty well-known that Philadelphia 76ers wing Jimmy Butler is not exactly a fan of Tom Thibodeau, something that was made blatantly obvious earlier this year when Butler demanded a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves while Thibodeau was a coach and front-office executive.
After the Timberwolves made the decision to fire Thibodeau earlier this month, Butler reached out to new Minnesota head coach Ryan Saunders:
Wolves coach Ryan Saunders said Jimmy Butler reached out to him after he took over for Tom Thibodeau. Said the two of them had a strong relationship while Butler was in Minnesota.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 15, 2019
Seems like Saunders was the only person with whom Butler actually jived in Minneapolis.
Jimmy Butler was traded to the 76ers early this season not long after a practice session in which Butler mocked Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins and berated Timberwolves executives.
Minnesota eventually moved him to Philadelphia in a deal that sent Dario Saric and Robert Covington to the Timberwolves.
Saunders is the son of the late Flip Saunders. At 32 years old, he is the youngest coach in the NBA and earned his first NBA coaching job in 2009, serving as an assistant under his father while Flip was head coach of the Washington Wizards.
Ryan held that position through 2014 before joining his father back in Minnesota as an assistant, where he has served ever since.
Prior to making the jump to the NBA, Saunders briefly served as a graduate assistant under Tubby Smith at the University of Minnesota, where he also had a four-year playing career from 2004 through 2008.
Saunders made the Golden Gophers as a walk-on guard and ended up playing in 20 games during his NCAA career, scoring a total of five points over 39 minutes.
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