Sources: Thibs pitches Butler on rejoining Wolves

9:03 pm | September 24, 2018 | Go to Source | Author:

12:47 AM ET

Adrian WojnarowskiESPN

Minnesota Timberwolves coach and president Tom Thibodeau met with All-Star forward Jimmy Butler on Monday and tried to convince him to eventually rejoin the team in the preseason, league sources told ESPN.

Butler is sitting out, awaiting the organization to honor his trade request.

Thibodeau told reporters Monday during media day he expects Butler to join Minnesota for training camp if the club can’t find a good trade for him over the next week or so.

While Thibodeau said the team is working quickly and diligently to fulfill Butler’s trade request, “our job is to seek out the best opportunity for us.”

“If something is good for us, then we’re interested in doing it. If not, we’re ready to move forward the other way,” Thibodeau said, while mentioning that Butler needs another week or so to do some rehab and conditioning work.

The comments came a little less than a week after reports emerged that Butler had requested a trade — the first time Butler had approached his longtime coach with that request, according to Thibodeau.

Butler, a four-time All-Star, was given the OK by the team not to participate in media day.

Information from ESPN’s Chris Herring was used in this report.