September 19, 2018
Less than a week before the start of training camp, during a much-publicized high-stakes meeting with head coach and team president Tom Thibodeau intended to clear the air after a summer filled with reports of acrimony and discontent, All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler requested that the Minnesota Timberwolves trade him, according to Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
Charania reports that Butler — whom the Wolves acquired at the 2017 NBA draft in a blockbuster deal that sent guards Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn, along with a draft pick that became forward Lauri Markkanen, to Chicago — has “given Minnesota a list of one-to-three teams with whom he’s open to signing [an] extension.” Those teams, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, all play in the NBA’s biggest markets: