The Minnesota Timberwolves made an extension offer to Jimmy Butler, but it appears to have come up well short.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor confirmed Friday that the swingman turned down said offer, but the length and amount were reported Saturday by ESPN’s Nick Friedell.
The four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection was offered a four-year deal worth $100 million, but took a hard pass.
“We offered him the extension, and they’ve met and come back to us and said they’re really appreciative of it, they appreciate that we got to them right away and all that, but they declined it,” Taylor said on ESPN 1500.
It’s really no surprise Butler turned down the lowballed offer. He’s proven to be one of the better perimeter players in the NBA, and could get a max deal worth north of $35 million annually if he just waits until next offseason when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. If the T-Wolves really want to keep him around, they’ll have to do a lot better than that.
This is also coupled with the fact that Butler reportedly is “fed-up” with Karl-Anthony Townes’ attitude, in addition to the overall lackadaisical vibe surrounding many T-Wolves players. He’s also been rumored to want to join forces with Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving next summer.
Whether any of that is true or not probably doesn’t matter, seeing as what he was offered by Minnesota was much lower than he could fetch next summer.
