NBA
Where Will Jimmy Butler Go Next Summer?
Now that the 2018 offseason is coming to an end and training camp is looming, all player movement talks have died down. Wait, it hasn’t. People are already talking about next offseason. Of all players whose contract is up summer of 2019, a name that has swirling around the most is Jimmy Butler.
The two-way star has been teetering back and forth with how he feels about the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise since he arrived. Moments of happiness with helping getting the franchise back to the playoffs. Moments of displeasure with teammates work ethics and team direction. That wad primarily aimed at the two young Wolves studs Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony-Towns.
Butler is a known talker though. He has never hid from how he feels about his teams in the past, but talk like this seems a little different. He does also like to troll media and players so this might all be an elaborate joke that only he is in on. Whatever it might be, this is putting the Timberwolves in an awkward position. Keeping Butler the entire season and risk he walks, or trade him mid season for some valuable players/pieces.
What Should the Timberwolves Do?
Butler has gone on record saying he is frustrated with the passiveness on defense with other stars Wiggins and Towns. In fairness though to Butler, both players would lapse out on defense during the year. Wiggins would lose focus or Towns would just be overpowered by most dominant bigs in the league. Those are things that both youngsters can work on to get better.
The Timberwolves would like to avoid just a two year lease on Butler. The goal for head coach Tom Thibodeau and GM Scott Layden is to re-sign him next summer. Butler does has a player option for 2019-20, but he’d likely opt out of that to sign a max contract. The Timberwolves are trying to save space so they can give a max extension to Towns (offer still being negotiated).
If the Timberwolves aren’t a top 4 seed in the Western Conference, they might want to get rid of the 4 time all-star. Many contending teams or big market teams are salivating over having him and the Timberwolves are in luck with that. They could receive nice pieces that could help avoid them taking too many steps back by just letting Butler go. Some teams that come to mind are Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and the Lebron James led Los Angeles Lakers. So the usual teams that go after every big name player.
Boston Celtics Could Trade For Jimmy Butler
Danny Ainge is a whiz of a GM. He’s made some of the best deals over the past decade. It started with the Timberwolves trade with Kevin Garnett back in 2008 to when he dumped aging Paul Pierce and Garnett to the overly ambitious Brooklyn Nets. They received a lot of picks for years to come.
From those picks have come a lot of great young players such as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and breakout playoff star Terry Rozier. The Celtics could pair up one of those players with other pieces and picks to send over. By doing this trade, the Celtics might be able to persuade Kyrie Irving from opting out with them and sign long term. Think of a team of Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler, Gordon Hayward, and aging but still useful big man Al Horford.
Los Angeles Lakers A Possibility For Jimmy Butler
With Lebron being in Los Angeles now, the Lakers are back to being contenders, or at least in the playoffs. Going to cold Minnesota to warm Southern California with the best player in the league can seem very tantalizing. Butler has gone on record he’d be open to the idea of switching to the purple and gold.
I mean who wouldn’t want to play with LeBron in Los Angeles? By adding a player like Butler could get the Lakers over the hump. Like the Celtics though, the Lakers also have a lot of assets to trade if the Timberwolves are open for business. Brandon Ingram is untouchable for the Lakers for the most part, but that leaves players like Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart that could fill needs for the Timberwolves.
Kuzma just came off of a stellar rookie campaign and was one of the diamond in the rough last draft. Hart is coming off a hot summer league and hot end of season last year. He could be a quick scoring from the 1 or 2 off the bench.
Kuzma has the option to being a starter or a valuable role player. Taj Gibson still has that starter spot as of now, but after some growth maybe that could change. Other pieces would have to be involved though to match Butler’s salary. By adding Kuzma and Hart, it can continue the orginal Timberwolves route of growing with the talent they have.
New York Knicks Chance At Butler
With rumors of Kyrie Irving going the Knicks next year to team up with Kristaps Porzingis, they could use a third player to get the new NBA trend of having a big three. In steps the idea of Butler. With the idea of the Knicks landing Irving, they might be more lenient with getting rid of former lottery pick Frank Ntilikina. A bigger point guard standing at 6’5″ with a 7’1″ wingspan, he has the defensive build that makes the defensive minded Thibodeau tremble at the thought of having. The Knicks could also throw in 3 and D specialist Courtney Lee with other assets to balance everything out cap wise.
These rumors and ideas will be floating around until the trade deadline and ever more once next summer comes around. Knowing Butler, he will only be adding more speculation where he will want to be.
