Jimmy Butler Issues Blunt Timberwolves Message Ahead of Warriors' Game 1

Approaching a second-round Game 1 matchup with his former team, estranged former Minnesota Timberwolves star Jimmy Butler addressed the room.

The centerpiece of a blockbuster trade between the Wolves and Chicago Bulls for the 2017-18 season, Butler spent one year in Minnesota, leading the Timberwolves to their first playoff berth since 2004.

However, Butler was seemingly unhappy with his situation. Shortly before training camp, Butler requested a trade and, a month later, showed up to training camp, beating the Wolves' starters with a cast of backups in a on his side in a scrimmage before storming out of the team's facilities.

Butler played just 10 more games for the Wolves before he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in November 2018.

Since leaving, Butler has missed many games against his former team, but especially at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. He has played in Minnesota just three times in the past seven seasons since leaving and has not played there since 2021 -- leaving some fans suspicious that Butler is ducking his former team.

During shootarounds on the eve of his Golden State Warriors' Game 1 at the Target Center, Butler voiced his side of his return after a 1,259-day absence in Minnesota.

"I don't got no problems with Minnesota," Butler said on a video captured by the Minnesota Star Tribune, which was followed by several comments.

"It ain't gon' be my first time," he said, speaking to someone off-camera. "If they boo me, they gon' boo your [expletive]."

Butler's long absence from the Target Center has also coincided with few matchups with Anthony Edwards -- who has become the new face of the team.

The two had a heated moment in 2021 when Edwards, just 20 years old at the time, objected to Butler taking the ball out of Edwards' hands during a break in play, leading to an exchanging of words.

"He ain’t finna fight nobody out there," Edwards said in a postgame interview. "All that walking up on each other, that’s stuff for the birds, man."

That proved to be the last time Butler visited the Target Center.