Jimmy Butler
The four-time All-Star who ended Minnesota's 14-year playoff drought in 2018, then forced his way out in one of the ugliest exits in franchise history.
For one season Minnesota had the best two-way wing in the Western Conference and ended its fourteen-year playoff drought. The next season became a standoff.
| Vitals | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 14, 1989, Houston, Texas |
| College | Tyler Junior College, then Marquette |
| Acquired | Trade from Chicago, June 22, 2017 |
| Seasons as a Wolf | 2 (2017–2019) |
| Number | 23 |
The heist. On the night of the 2017 draft, Tom Thibodeau reeled in the star he had coached in Chicago, and the price barely made sense on Minnesota’s side of the ledger. The Wolves sent Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the No. 7 pick (which became Lauri Markkanen) to the Bulls, and got back a 27-year-old, two-way, All-NBA wing in his prime plus the No. 16 selection. Every trade-grade column in the country (SI among them) called it a fleecing. For a franchise that had spent a decade collecting lottery picks the way other teams collect banners, it was the rarest thing of all: a win-now move that actually looked like it might work.
The drought-breaker. It worked. The 2017-18 Wolves went 47-35, their most wins since the Kevin Garnett era. Butler was the spine of it, averaging 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists with two steals a night. He made his fourth straight All-Star team and earned All-NBA Third Team and All-Defensive Second Team honors. A February meniscus tear cost him 17 games and nearly cost Minnesota the season, but he returned for the finish, and on April 11, 2018 the Wolves beat Denver 112-106 in overtime in a winner-take-all Game 82 at Target Center — Butler 31, Karl-Anthony Towns 26 and 14. Fourteen years of basketball Siberia ended in one night, and the man who ended it had been in town for ten months.
The veteran and the kids. The picture that spring was the one the front office had drawn up: a hardened star in his prime flanked by two ascending talents. Andrew Wiggins was the athletic scorer on a fresh max deal; Towns was a 22-year-old All-Star and a 20-and-12 machine who could shoot. Butler was supposed to be the missing adult in the room, the competitive floor the young Wolves could build on. For one playoff spring, it read like the start of a decade.
The villain turn. It lasted exactly one summer. On September 18, 2018, days before camp, Butler requested a trade, reportedly telling Thibodeau he no longer believed in the commitment of Wiggins and Towns. Then came October 10, and the most infamous practice in team history. Butler returned to the floor, took a lineup of end-of-the-bench players against the starters, and ran the regulars off the court, screaming at Thibodeau, at general manager Scott Layden, and at his two young co-stars, reportedly shouting some version of “you f------ need me.” A staffer told RealGM it was the worst practice they had ever witnessed in the NBA. Butler walked straight from the floor into a television interview to explain himself. Minnesota canceled the next day’s session.
The exit. The team tried to hold the line, and for a few weeks it did; Butler even started the season in a Wolves uniform. But the standoff was corrosive, and after a fifth straight loss the front office decided the roster could no longer function around him. On November 10, 2018 Minnesota agreed to send Butler (and Justin Patton) to the Philadelphia 76ers for Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless and a second-round pick; the deal was made official November 12. The best individual return in the entire saga was that it ended.
By the numbers
Regular-season stats, per Basketball-Reference:
| Season | GP | PPG | RPG | APG | FG% | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 59 | 22.2 | 5.3 | 4.9 | .474 | .350 |
| 2018-19 | 10 | 21.3 | 5.2 | 4.3 | .471 | .378 |
Wolves career totals
Franchise ranks
- 9th Steals per game, single season (2.0, 2017-18)
Per the franchise leaderboards; 69 games in two seasons kept Butler off the career counting lists, but his 2017-18 disruption still ranks among the best defensive years the team has ever had.
Accolades
- All-NBA Third Team, 2018
- NBA All-Star, 2018
- NBA All-Defensive Second Team, 2018
Lore
Game 82. The clincher against Denver is the single most cathartic regular-season game the franchise has ever played — a de facto play-in a year before the NBA invented the format, decided in overtime on Jeff Teague’s floater, with Butler dropping 31 to drag Minnesota back to the postseason after fourteen years away. For a fanbase that had learned to expect the trap door, it was the rare night the floor held.
“You need me.” The October 10, 2018 practice has its own permanent shelf in Wolves lore, half cautionary tale and half legend — a returning star grabbing the third string, dismantling the starters, and torching the front office on the way out the door. It reframed everything that came before it: the drought-breaker and the wrecking ball turned out to be the same person, ten months apart.
The interview. Butler did not let anyone else set the narrative. He walked off the practice floor and straight into a national television camera, defending himself in real time before the team could issue a word, the moment the “villain” turn stopped being a rumor and became the story of Minnesota’s season.
What the fallout bought. The trade that ended the standoff quietly reshaped the roster. Robert Covington became one of the better 3-and-D wings the Wolves have rostered before he too was moved along, and the deal cleared the runway for the front office’s next rebuild. The Butler era gave Minnesota one glorious playoff spring and one unforgettable cautionary tale, and not much in between.
He broke the longest drought in the sport, and he broke the locker room, and he did both inside of two seasons, which is the whole reason Wolves fans still argue about whether it was worth it.