With LeBron James joining the Los Angeles Lakers, All-Star guard Jimmy Butler wants to return to the Eastern Conference to join the Boston Celtics.
Butler who is currently playing with the Minnesota Timberwolves has expressed his frustrations on the attitudes of his teammates particularly Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. The two-time All-NBA team member once played for the Chicago Bulls before being dealt by the Bulls in a draft-night trade last year.
Prior on being traded to Minnesota, Butler was enjoying a career year with the Bulls in the 2016-17 season wherein he averaged 23.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.5 assists. Overall, Butler has career averages of 16.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 458 games played.
"I just don't think there have been many people that have understood how important winning is to me, man," Butler said.
During his first season with the Timberwolves, the Marquette University product had averages of 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists. He also shot 47.4 percent from the field and 35 percent from the three-point territory.
Irving And Butler Working Together
Sources close to the situation said that Butler and Celtics star Kyrie Irving is working out a way to play together. Last season, Irving told Butler that he will be asking a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers pointing that the Bulls will be one of his top destinations.
However, Bulls general manager Gar Forman and vice president John Paxson decided not to pull the trigger citing that they don't have enough pieces to trade for Irving. The Cavaliers would then trade Irving to the Celtics thereafter.
Irving has already played alongside Butler in Team USA and on NBA All-Star teams. The former Cavaliers point guard has a player option left in his contract that would make him a free agent next season. Irving has stated that he won't be signing a contract extension with the Celtics.
Just like Irving, Butler has a player option on his current deal and has no plans of signing an extension with the Timberwolves. Among the few teams that are projected to land both Irving and Butler include the Celtics, Bulls, Timberwolves, New York Knicks, and the Brooklyn Nets.
Regardless of his frustrations, basketball pundits are hopeful that Butler would remain in Minnesota stating that both Towns and Wiggins are still developing and could improve their competitiveness in the future. The Timberwolves made it to the playoffs as the eighth-seed but failed to make a huge impact after it was eliminated in five games.
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