Andrew Wiggins is playing the best basketball of his life right now. If the Warriors win the title, he could potentially win NBA Finals MVP.
Wiggins, who made the starting lineup of the All-Star Game this season, has enjoyed a remarkable mid-career turnaround. His time with Golden State has been a complete about-face from his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves, where things soured with Jimmy Butler.
After the game, however, Draymond Green had some fascinating comments about Wiggins’ relationship with Butler:
“When he first came here, I’ll never forget Thibs, when wasn’t with the Knicks, he was like, ‘You’re going to love him. He competes. He defends. Jimmy loved him.’ We all know how Jimmy Butler is. If you have any softness to you, Jimmy don’t like you.”
Watch the video from Green, during the post-game press conference, below:
Draymond on Wiggins: "When he first came here, I'll never forget Thibs, when wasn't with the Knicks, he was like, 'You're going to love him. He competes. He defends. Jimmy loved him.' We all know how Jimmy Butler is. If you have any softness to you, Jimmy don't like you." pic.twitter.com/ITn0OSaX2U
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) June 14, 2022
The quote from Green, of course, is fairly different from the narrative most people believe about what happened in Minnesota. Reporting suggested that Butler requested a trade, in fact, because he was no longer interested in trying to “nurture” Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.
While on the Timberwolves, he was reportedly “clashing” with Wiggins and Towns. Wiggins, according to reports, was “long a target of Butler’s chiding and prodding” while in Minnesota.
Butler would allegedly roast Towns and Wiggins for their defensive effort. Veteran reporter Marc Stein even said Butler was “emasculating” Wiggins and Towards to a damaging degree.
Wait, we’re just going to pretend Jimmy Butler loved Andrew Wiggins all along now?
— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) June 14, 2022
One such incident, of course, was when Butler teamed up with low-minute players like James Nunally and Jared Terrell during a scrimmage against Wiggins and Towns.
Butler’s team won and then, according to Yahoo’s Chris Haynes, he went on an “emotional, profanity-laced tirade” directed at Towns and Wiggins. Butler, per Haynes, told Towns and Wiggins they were “soft” before he stormed out of the facility.
An interesting detail: Wiggins reportedly gave Butler a “hand dap” on his way out. When he was asked about the infamous practice, Wiggins had this to say:
“It wasn’t that bad. I feel like from the outside looking in it was a lot worse than from the inside looking out. As basketball players, competitors, it was just a competitive practice. It wasn’t as chaotic as people think.”
Wiggins insisted that the problems during practice weren’t about him and that he was just out there hooping.
what did Jimmy Butler do to Andrew Wiggins in that Minnesota practice?
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) June 14, 2022
Although Wiggins’ brother had an interesting social media post when news broke that Butler requested a trade, Wiggins has consistently shared nothing but awesome things about Butler:
“He’s a great leader. He’s someone who holds you accountable, someone who is going to make you play harder and it speaks for itself … He’s going to lead you on and off the court in the right direction.”
Wiggins made it clear that Butler was a “good teammate” when they played together, he learned a lot from him, he enjoyed playing with him, and he was rooting for Butler.
For what it is worth, this isn’t the first time we have heard that Butler had positive things to say about Wiggins. Andre Iguodala, who played alongside Butler while on the Heat, shared a similar sentiment.
Andre Iguodala says Jimmy Butler made him look at Andrew Wiggins differently. pic.twitter.com/DTQksksRuk
— Mark Haynes (@markhaynesnba) December 18, 2021
Butler has made it clear that he didn’t have a problem with anyone on the Timberwolves, and that it was all business in an effort to win:
“I know where I’m at with my guys. I know how I am as a person. They can write whatever they want, they can say whatever they want and I can address it the way that I want to. But at the end of the day, I go to war with my guys. Those are my guys. We’re out there trying to win. Nothing is going to come between us. I’m going to play the right way, do what I do, and they know that. They know that.”
Maybe the problem, as Derrick Rose suggested, was not personal with Wiggins and Towns. Instead, maybe he was more frustrated that both Wiggins and Towns were on max contracts before he could get one from management.
Regardless, perhaps Wiggins’ time with Butler helped shape him into the player that he is today. If so, Wiggins’ gratitude towns Butler seems like it’s more than just lip service.
