The Sacramento Kings aren’t likely to acquire Minnesota Timberwolves star forward Jimmy Butler, but they are interested in helping another team trade for him.
Butler wants out of Minnesota, and according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, he has no interest in practicing or playing for the T-Wolves ever again. Wojnarowski also reported Tuesday that Sacramento is willing to be a third team in a potential Butler trade to take on bad contracts in exchange for players and/or draft picks.
“In recent days, Sacramento has been aggressive in courting Minnesota and several of Butler’s trade suitors — offering to use its space as a landing spot for bloated contracts,” Wojnarowski wrote. “The Kings are without their first-round draft pick in 2019, and uniquely positioned to leverage that cap space into, at a minimum, a future first-round pick and maybe more as part of a Butler blockbuster.”
The Kings can take on contracts with more than a year remaining because their best players are young and still have time on their rookie deals. Sacramento still is in a rebuild and not going to be playoff-caliber this season and perhaps in 2019-20 as well. Getting as many future assets as possible should be the goal for the Kings front office.
Trade rumors have linked Butler to the Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers and other teams. Butler is entering the final year of his contract and can become an unrestricted free agent next summer. The 29-year-old forward averaged 22.2 points per game for the Timberwolves last season, but was limited to 59 games because of injury,.
