In the least surprising news on this side of water being wet, the Chicago Bulls’ asking price in a potential trade of Jimmy Butler will be somewhat high.
According to a report by Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN on Monday, the Bulls will not trade Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves if former Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins is not involved in the deal.
Good work from Marc. Word is Bulls won't do if AW not involved. If wanted to move JB, bet Bos. would give up No. 3. https://t.co/YBBxwCi8Es
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) June 14, 2016
It was recently reported that the Timberwolves, who just hired Butler’s former coach on the Bulls, Tom Thibodeau, as their head coach and president of basketball operations, were making the No. 5 overall pick in this year’s draft available in attempt to pry Butler away from Chicago. But it doesn’t take Nostradamus to see that the pick alone won’t nearly be enough to convince the Bulls to part ways with their All-Star wing.
Still, if Chicago is indeed unwilling to pull the trigger on a Butler-to-Minnesota trade without Wiggins being included, it might be a deal breaker for the Wolves. Butler will be 27 before the 2016-17 season starts, while Wiggins just turned 21 in February. Also still on his rookie deal, Wiggins is under affordable team control at least for the next three seasons. Meanwhile, Butler is owed more than $77 million over the next four years.
As a fellow two-way talent that is still very much developing, Wiggins has arguably the higher ceiling as well. At the same time, teams like the Warriors and the Thunder have proven to us just how much continuity matters in today’s NBA especially with a young core of players maturing together. It’s also impossible to ignore the concerns surrounding Butler’s character, his slight history of knee troubles, his poor reputation as a teammate, and his coachability.
If this latest revelation is ultimately true, it was a valiant effort on the part of Thibodeau to try and acquire one of his best former soldiers, but it’s probably time for him to hang up the phone now.
Image Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
