The Minnesota Timberwolves cannot be happy with the reasons their team made headlines all over the sports world on Wednesday, and they are doing everything they can to prevent it from happening again.
One day after Jimmy Butler reported to practice only to berate his teammates, coaches and Minnesota’s front office, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic says the T-Wolves decided to call off practice and hold no media availability.
Timberwolves will not practice today. No media availability. Of course
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 11, 2018
The All-Star who wants out just caused a scene in practice and then aired his grievances nationally. And the Timberwolves call off practice and have no availability to address it, to downplay it, to say anything at all.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 11, 2018
Krawczynski also noted that Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau mentioned last week how the preseason schedule has not allowed for much practice time for a team that desperately needs it, so there’s little question Minnesota would have practiced on Thursday if not for the events that transpired the day before.
According to a report from Krawczynski and Shams Charania, Butler told Thibodeau in a meeting on Monday that he planned to act the way he did if the team ever asked him to return to practice without granting his trade request.
After he left Wednesday’s practice, Butler say down for an interview with ESPN and explained that his antics on Monday had to do with passion and his love for the game. Given that the T-Wolves decided to cancel practice on Thursday, it would stand to reason that Butler is wrong about Thibodeau’s thoughts on the way the star swingman behaved.
