If Jimmy Butler's reported trade request last week came as a surprise to you, don't worry, you weren't alone. Even Butler's Timberwolves teammates were apparently caught off guard by his decision. During a recent interview, Taj Gibson, who was teammates with Butler on the Bulls and often works out with him in the offseason, said the news came like a "right hook."
Via Espn:
"At the end of the day, you've got to look at it from a player's standpoint and a business standpoint," Gibson told ESPN after Friday's practice. "He's trying to do what he got to do, but everybody's calling him. It's more of a [situation where] I've got to go see him kind of thing. But I worked out with him all summer, so when I said what I meant, it was like a right hook. I didn't see it coming. I didn't know. I thought -- it looked like from everything things were going good. But sometimes it's a money aspect, and fans and different players got to understand that. I understand that with being in the league for so many years, but got to try to just see what we can do.
Derrick Rose, who also played with Butler in Chicago, echoed the same thoughts. Like Gibson, Rose respected Butler's decision to do what's best for him, but said he didn't see it coming.
"Now in the NBA, everybody has a little bit of freedom to do a little more of what they want," Rose told ESPN. "And he's expressing that he don't want to be here and he want to go somewhere else. I mean, Kawhi [Leonard] did it last year, didn't he? Like he just didn't play. Jimmy just came out and said he didn't want to play here. I had so much [stuff] going on, I couldn't even focus on what was really going on with the team. I signed early, and I left everything up to Thibs. [Butler's trade demand] was just a surprise, not only to me, I think to everyone that he wanted to leave. ... I didn't know what the situation is. I just didn't know it was that bad. Even being here, I didn't know it was that bad."
While there were certainly signs that Butler may not re-sign with the Timberwolves in the summer, these quotes show that even inside the organization no one expected him to force his way out before than. Especially not at this point in the offseason.
That Butler did request a trade so close to the start of the season, and that it was a complete surprise to even his longtime teammate and summer workout partner in Gibson, does make you wonder if something happened behind the scenes. Perhaps Butler had been weighing this decision all along, and just finally decided to pull the trigger, but it's very curious timing.
In any case, the Wolves are still holding out on any trades. The Heat and Rocketshave amped up efforts to deal for Butler in recent days, but according to reports, the Wolves' asking price is still too high. With Butler apparently intent on sitting out until he's traded, the Wolves would be wise to get a deal done as soon as possible, but it's not clear when that may happen.