SACRAMENTO -- The beginning to the end of the Minnesota Timberwolves started over the summer when Jimmy Butler demanded a trade. On Saturday afternoon, coach Tom Thibodeau finally pulled the plug on what had become a toxic situation, dealing Butler, along with Justin Patton, to the Philadelphia 76ers for Dario Saric, Robert Covington and Jerryd Bayless.
It’s a shocking fall for a franchise that had just ended a 13-year playoff drought last season and appeared destined for something more with its stable of young stars.
Butler, a four-time All-Star and one of the better two-way players in the game, went from the missing link in Minny to a caustic mess in a matter of months. The situation played out on the floor of Golden 1 Center on Friday night, and it was evident there was no way to reconcile the issues brewing beneath the surface.
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SIGN UP HERE Karl-Anthony Towns had a breakout game against the Kings, scoring 39 points and grabbing 19 rebounds. But the game was a microcosm of what ails the T-Wolves.
The young upstart Kings looked to push the ball up and down the floor, while the T-Wolves took turns dominating the ball. There were short bursts where the game flowed, but the disconnect between the Timberwolves players was evident.
Instead of feeding the 22-year-old All-Star center, Minnesota looked like five individuals on the court, and paid for it with a fifth consecutive loss.
The Timberwolves should have built around Towns in the offseason when it all started to go south with Butler. Instead of finding a quality deal and focusing on chemistry through training camp and the preseason, Thibodeau tried to keep the roster together, despite the drama.
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Sending Butler packing should do wonders for the team’s morale. The 29-year-old wing wrote his own ticket throughout the team’s first 13 games, dictating when he would and wouldn’t play.
With him on his way to Philly, the team can concentrate on the young core of Towns, Andrew Wiggins and the newcomers brought in from Philly.
Both Covington and Saric should fit well in Minnesota. Covington is a 3-and-D wing who’s entering the first year of a four-year contract extension. Saric’s numbers are down early this season, but he’s a versatile big who should fit nicely next to Towns.
The Butler situation should serve as a cautionary tale for a team like Sacramento. Minnesota gave up young players in Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen for what a amounts to a one-year rental. The T-Wolves ended their playoff drought, but the damage Butler did to the franchise could set them back years.
The Kings have spent the last few summers filling their roster with young talent. Sacramento already has reached a point where certain players are taking giant leaps in development, while others are falling behind.
A young core is being established, and any move the Kings make should be for long-term solutions, not attempts at fleeting success.
The Timberwolves took a swing for the fences and struck out. They banked on the wrong player and handled the situation about as poorly as possible from top to bottom. While Butler finally is gone, the full repercussions from this ordeal likely won’t be known for another year or two.
There still is time to recover and post a respectable campaign. At 4-9, there is plenty of season left to play, but in a loaded Western Conference, the Timberwolves have a lot of work in front of them.