The NBA draft attracted plenty of attention on Thursday night, but when it was confirmed that Jimmy Butler had been traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Shockwaves.
The 27 year old shooting guard, just entering in to his prime, joins ‘The pack’ that includes former number one picks Karl Anthony-Towns and Andrew Wiggins.
The Wolves were highly touted to have a very successful future with their young core. Bringing Jimmy Butler in to Minnesota takes this teams potential to a whole new level.
The Chicago Bulls seemingly lost out big time in this trade. They sent their superstar player and their 16th pick to Minnesota in exchange for the 7th pick, who ended up being Lauri Markkanen from the University of Arizona, as well as the high flying Zach Lavine, and Kris Dunn, the 5th pick from the 2016 draft.
The Timberwolves won’t be complaining however, as their starting five for next season could start as Ricky Rubio, Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng and Karl Anthony-Towns. A terrifying look for the rest of the league.
The question now beckons, when will the success start coming for Minnesota? They haven’t made the post-season since 2004, the longest drought of all teams.
With Karl-Anthony Towns entering his third season, and Andrew Wiggins his fourth, it was surely not much longer before the Wolves made the Playoffs. With Jimmy Butler in the picture, it surely speeds up the process drastically. The expectation surely is for the team to end their Playoff drought at long last.
Their time has come.
