Lakers News: Jimmy Butler will be traded! If there are offers…Run!

Recent Los Angeles Lakers news has involved the prospect of trading for Jimmy Butler. Instead of engaging in trade talks, they should run!

There has been plenty of Los Angeles Lakers news recently with Media Day and training camp coming up. Some of the Lakers news has involved the trade market once again.

The next big explosion in the NBA’s own reality show will be the announcement that Jimmy Butler has requested a trade out of Minnesota after a draft night trade from Chicago in 2017. That Timberwolves big time investment amounted to 59 regular season games.

Jimmy Butler’s preferred bucket list is reportedly the Brooklyn Nets (Brooklyn?), the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Clippers. With Timberwolves owner, Glen Taylor making it clear that this situation will be dealt with very quickly, Butler can be gone as soon as this week.

Let’s ask Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN…

Is it me or is the LeBron James signing moving further and further down the list as the biggest story in the NBA offseason?

Just because Jimmy Butler requested the Nets, Knicks and Clippers as his requested destination, that means absolutely nothing. I think we all remember the Kawhi Leonard saga that linked the Lakers to every trade rumor known to every media outlet, including Lake Show Life.

Until Jimmy Butler is moved to his new team, more than likely the Lakers will be eventually in the conversation…sorry.

Let’s pretend that we are all in Magic Johnson’s office and he’s chatting it up with Rob Pelinka. What they are doing, I don’t know, figuring out what they want for lunch, watching Dodgers highlights, whatever.

The secretary buzzes Magic Johnson and says…”Mr. Johnson, the Timberwolves on line one”.

Now Lake Show Lifers, we are about to play a game of “What would you do?”. You are Magic Johnson and you know that the Timberwolves are fielding offers for a possible Jimmy Butler deal…

Do you

A) Pick up the phone and try to orchestrate a deal

or

B) Tell the secretary that no one is here and go to lunch.

If the Lakers brass is smart, Johnson and Pelinka went to lunch and the only decision that they made on that day was if they wanted red or white wine with their meal.

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No matter how much the Lakers are tempted to slide another max level player into the mix just before the season starts, they need to fight it and go into the season with the team they have assembled right now. There is no need to mortgage the future for a player whose value is at a low point at this juncture.

Sure there will be plenty of teams chomping at the bit to obtain Jimmy Butler’s services. He is easily one of the best two-way players in the NBA. But the Lakers do not need to be one of them.

Why?

Let’s take a look at Jimmy Butler and his royal and blue wrecking ball that he used to cause chaos in one franchise…IN ONE YEAR! No, check that…IN 59 GAMES!

The Minnesota Timberwolves looked like they should have been on the FBI’s most wanted list with the perceived highway robbery of acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Bulls. In exchange for Butler, Minnesota sent Zach LaVine, former lottery pick Kris Dunn and the seventh overall pick which turned into Lauri Markkanen to Chicago.

At the time, in layman’s term, was the Chicago Bulls got a box of Newports and Puma sweats for Jimmy Butler. Well, now it looks like the Timberwolves left a signed blank check and some diamonds in the pockets. Chicago is thanking their lucky stars for unloading a ticking time bomb while Butler has brought on more dysfunction in Minnesota that could carry on and set the franchise back five to ten years.

Which includes…

Making Tom Thibodeau look like a complete idiot for vouching for Butler in the first place and convincing the franchise to mortgage their future to bring in a player that asked for a trade in a year.

Alienating himself from the REST of the franchise’s future in Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony Towns that looks like the relationship is beyond repair.

A social media embarrassment that included Towns’ ex-girlfriend and spilled over to Andrew Wiggins’ brother and Stephen Jackson about the drama that unfolded about Butler’s trade requested.

Look there is no proof to this. But you do see the excess drama going on here. I’ll bet even LaVar Ball is telling them to chill at this point.

Umm, I like Stephen Jackson but I’m going to warn you that Captain Jack tends to use strong language…ya dig! Courtesy of Bleacher Report…

If you are not convinced yet, how about the huge potential divide in upper management?

Minnesota’s owner, Glen Taylor, wants Jimmy Butler traded as soon as possible. With Butler already being excused from media day activities, it would be hard pressed to see Butler in a Timberwolves jersey again.

How Tom Thibodeau will end up in this situation is up in the air as well. Tom Thibodeau has already been reported to resist any trade offers for Butler. If Glen Taylor owns the team. guess who wins in this scenario?

All of this for the nice price of say…$190 million dollars!

If you are not convinced, maybe SI’s Andrew Sharp can convince you…

"He works so hard that his contributions are generally beyond reproach, but maybe they shouldn’t be. He is a flat-out maniac who’s wonderful to watch as a fan, but it’s pretty clear he’d be exhausting to deal with on a daily basis. On the court and beyond, he hasn’t shown the ability to adapt to young teammates and find ways to empower them. Lack of growth from young stars isn’t strictly a Towns and Andrew Wiggins problem, or even a Thibodeau problem. In the same way that Russell Westbrook’s domineering personality is the best thing about him and also a challenge for everyone around him, Butler’s grinding approach forces his teammates to either fight him for control or be marginalized while he takes over the end of games.Butler has been great enough to make that deal worthwhile, but as his body breaks down with age and his contract gets expensive after his free agency next summer, the bargain is going to get more complicated. Anyone paying attention to the Minnesota offseason can see that it already has."

Jimmy Butler’s star has lost its shine in this scenario. Minnesota brought him in to be a leader and it does look like he is not interested in winning. I mean Brooklyn as a destination? Why Wojo why?!

Let’s be clear here folks. Jimmy Butler is trying to get PAID! If you take a look at all of these teams that Butler seems to want to play for, they all have the same endearing quality to Butler…they can pay the man the money he wants…the MAXIMUM! Something that the Timberwolves did not come close to doing with the $100 million dollar offer they gave Butler.

If you think Butler didn’t want that money before, you can best believe that is the only number on his mind after Karl-Anthony Towns got the same number immediately after Butler made it clear he wanted to be traded.

If you are a Lakers fan, pray that Robe Pelinka and Magic Johnson went to a Dodgers game and had a long lunch. Long enough that Jimmy Butler is traded out of Minnesota. The Lakers do not need another five years of dysfunction.

The Lakers just left that world the second Magic Johnson walked in the door and took things over. Jimmy Butler brings problems to L.A. that the franchise just does not need at this point.

RUN!