-
Adrian WojnarowskiESPN
All-Star Jimmy Butler made a dramatic return to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, boldly challenging teammates, coaches and front office executives in the session, league sources told ESPN.
Butler was vociferous and intense throughout scrimmage sessions, targeting president of basketball operations and coach Tom Thibodeau, general manager Scott Layden and teammates, including Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, league sources said.
As the GM watched on the sidelines during a scrimmage, sources said that Butler yelled to Layden: “You f—ing need me, Scott. You can’t win without me.”
It was Butler’s first practice with the team since requesting a trade three weeks ago.
Many of the Minnesota players left practice energized by Butler’s performance, mesmerized with him taking several end-of-the-bench players and running the table in scrimmage games against the regulars, league sources said. After punctuating the final victory at the end of practice, Butler marched out of the gym as though to emphasize he had proven his point, sources said. Coaches and players were largely speechless, league sources said.
A fledgling team that has struggled to get by without him in the preseason had plenty of teammates anxious to see him back in the gym permanently, sources said. But it is unclear if Butler made his full-time return to the Timberwolves season or just proved a point of some kind in the practice.
After a proposed Butler trade fell apart over the weekend, the Miami Heat remain interested in restarting talks with Minnesota to acquire Butler, league sources told ESPN earlier on Wednesday. Minnesota and Miami advanced to the brink of a blockbuster trade for Butler over the weekend — only for the deal to fracture before completion, sources told ESPN.
Minnesota had shared Butler’s medical information with Miami late last week, sources said, a typical last step before finalizing a trade. Minnesota moved to amend the framework of the trade and talks collapsed on Saturday, league sources said.
Information from ESPN’s Chris Herring was used in this report.