Butler blasts heavy workload: 'That sh-- has to stop'
Jimmy Butler has thrown a Minnesota lake full of cold water on a report he agreed to a 32-minute per game limit with the Timberwolves.
"Nobody talked to me about nothing," Butler told The Athletic's Sam Amick. "That’s just stuff that’s being written. I haven't talked about minutes with nobody. I just go out there and I just play. I get lost in the game, and I want to win, and I don't even realize that it turns into 41 (minutes)."
Butler, currently ranked fourth in the NBA at 36.1 minutes per game, promptly threw a shot across head coach Tom Thibodeau's bow.
"That sh-- has to stop," Butler said. "We've got f-----g 14 other guys."
When pressed by Amick, Butler insinuated that his teammates should be defraying his playing time, which has shot up to 39 minutes over the past five games.
"We've got f-----g guys who can play," he said. "We've got to instill confidence in everybody. I think my confidence is high enough. I want all my guys to be successful, man. I want all these guys to play. Is that a convo (with Thibodeau) that I've got to have? Yeah, and then everybody wants to talk about how the motherf----r's not healthy (referring to himself). Well God damn, we're playing 41, 43, 44, it takes a toll on top of all the work that I do that don't nobody even see. We'll fix it. We'll do something. We'll talk."
It's another plot twist in Butler's drawn-out trade request drama. While the four-time All-Star is believed to be close with Thibodeau dating back to their time together with the Chicago Bulls, it's the first public indictment of the coach's style by a star player. Thibodeau is well-known for riding his players hard, and those he's coached over the years such as Butler and Andrew Wiggins have led the league in games played at different points.
The 29-year-old Butler also admitted he's attempting to preserve his health by sitting out some games, like on one end of back-to-backs.
"I'm not fitting to go out there and risk getting hurt," he said. "Whenever you hear 'general soreness' or my right quad or whatever it is, I'm not going to go out there and I'm not going to get hurt. That's what it always comes down to. I play hard, man. I do. I think everybody knows that."