Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Jimmy Butler has turned down a four-year extension worth $100 million, a league source confirmed to ESPN.
“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,” Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said in an interview with ESPN 1500, without specifying the amount the team offered.
Jimmy Butler declined a 4-year/$110M extension from the Timberwolves, per @DWolfsonKSTP pic.twitter.com/UwXdBEwnsf
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 13, 2018
If Butler puts together another All-Star-caliber season, he stands to make even more money next summer because the league’s salary cap is expected to rise.
This is not the first time Butler has decided to turn down a lucrative extension. Before the 2014-15 season, he declined to sign a four-year deal worth close to $44 million with the Chicago Bulls. At the time, Butler believed he could make even more money with another big year. He was correct, as he won the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award in 2014-15 and signed a max extension the ensuing summer worth more than $90 million.
“Jimmy’s taking some gamble here, too,” Taylor said. “That he won’t get injured or that for some reason or another, he has a bad year. Both of us are taking some risk. I think the main thing is we have to play really well this year and be very competitive, and I think Jimmy, as other star players, will want to play on a team that does well and has the potential of doing better.”
Butler averaged 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game last season, his first with the Timberwolves after being traded by the Bulls in June 2017. If Thibbs keeps on playing this guy too many minutes, he’ll have nothing left in the tank for the second half of his career.
