Timberwolves owner: Jimmy Butler situation negatively affected team

The Minnesota Timberwolves can now move forward in a new chapter for the team, one that does not involve Jimmy Butler. And their owner seems pleased about that.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor spoke with The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski for an interview about the state of the team following their long-awaited trade of Butler, which came on Saturday. Taylor says he wishes Butler had let them know of his trade request earlier so that they could have sorted things out sooner rather than closer to the season. For that, he might have to blame Tom Thibodeau, who was told of Butler’s trade request after last season ended but was determined to keep the player with the team and fix the situation.

Ultimately, Minnesota held onto Butler to start the season while examining various trade requests. The team went 4-9 with Butler, though he only played in 10 of the 13 games.

“When we had these disruptions, rightly or wrongly, it appeared to have affected the team in a negative way,” Taylor told Krawczynski.

“Nothing seemed to be working. As a matter of fact, things were tilting to the negative side and we needed to get it done.”

Minnesota got Dario Saric, Robert Covington, Jerryd Bayless and a future 2nd-round pick for Butler and Justin Patton. Butler is expected to make his Philadelphia 76ers debut on Wednesday.