After the Minnesota Timberwolves suffered an early exit in the Western Conference Playoffs, rumors and speculations started to swirl that Jimmy Butler is unhappy with the team. The 28-year-old small forward is reportedly frustrated with his young teammates, specifically Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. Butler’s agent, Bernie Lee, addressed the rumors surrounding his client, saying that he’s not the type of player who does “passive-aggressive,” per Pioneer Press .
The Timberwolves tried to ease up the tension by offering Jimmy Butler a four-year, $110 million contract extension. Unfortunately, Butler decided to decline the extension, heating up the speculations about his nearing departure in Minnesota. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor revealed the reply he received from Butler’s camp when they offered him a new deal early in the free agency period.
“They said they are really appreciative of it. We got to them right away, but they declined it,” Taylor told Darren Wolfson of KSTP , and reported by Sports Illustrated . “They said you guys have done everything, but our bet is we should wait until next year and we can get ourselves a better deal.”
This is undeniably bad news for Timberwolves fans, knowing that the team just gave up lots of valuable trade assets to acquire Jimmy Butler from the Chicago Bulls in the summer of 2017. Butler still has two years left on his contract, but he could use an early-termination player option to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
Jimmy Butler rejects Wolves’ four-year, $110 million extension offer, owner says https://t.co/C7anNMaZ8a pic.twitter.com/eZmwuYSsAp
— CBS Sports NBA (@CBSSportsNBA) July 13, 2018
Butler’s decision to decline the contract extension doesn’t necessarily mean that he will be leaving the Timberwolves in 2019 free agency. Financially, signing an extension doesn’t make any sense for the All-Star forward since he can get a better deal when he hits the free agency market. If Butler exercises his early-termination player option next summer, he could ink a five-year deal worth $190 million with the Timberwolves or a four-year contract worth $140 million with another team.
If they decide to keep him this offseason, the 2018-19 NBA season will be crucial for the Timberwolves since they could risk losing Jimmy Butler in 2019 free agency without getting anything in return. When his rumored dispute with Karl-Anthony Towns started to spread, there were reports that Butler wanted to join forces with Boston Celtics superstar Kyrie Irving when they become unrestricted free agents next summer. Like Butler, Irving also chose to decline a contract extension from the Celtics, believing that he could earn more when he tests the free agency market in 2019.
Will Jimmy Butler leave the Timberwolves? As of now, no one can tell what the future holds for Butler and the Timberwolves. Their performance in the 2018-19 NBA season is expected to play a major role in Butler’s decision in the summer of 2019.
