Blockbuster NBA trade

Ive had my concerns about Jimmy Butlers presence in a locker room (who hasnt), but a trade which doesnt involve Markelle Fultz or any future first-round draft picks is about the best you could hope for in a trade such as this.

And an all-caps LOSS would have been for Butler to hang around the Timberwolves all season, destroying the team's chemistry before leaving in free agency at the end of the season.

Butler made it clear to the Wolves he would not sign with them in the offseason even if they were the only team who could offer him the $190 million contract, and owner Glen Taylor vowed to honor Butler’s trade request.

Derrick Rose and Butler both said the team was in need of some tough love, that they needed to learn how to criticize each other constructively.

The deal ends a two-month saga that began with Butler making a trade request of coach and team President Tom Thibodeau in Los Angeles before training camp began.

Now lets head up to Minnesota to see how the Timberwolves are reacting to the Jimmy Butler trade news:

Jimmy Butler is heading to Philly 👀 MORE:

Butler, however, sat out three games for “precautionary rest” and to heal his “general soreness,” as Thibodeau termed it, in a move that was designed to help keep Butler from getting hurt and harming his trade value.

But the majority of the blame for this disastrous situation is the fault of Butler, an alpha male among alpha males, someone with one of the biggest and most strident personalities in the NBA -- and, according to executives I've spoken with, a player who has transformed in recent years from a hungry, me-against-the-world underdog story into an ego-driven star who can tear at the fiber of a team.

I love the Jimmy Butler trade for the Sixers. Now that Philly has 3 of the top 6 players in the East - including the Easts best player, Joel Embiid, who made a stunningly clutch 19 of 22 FTs last night - I give the Sixers a very good shot at playing Golden State in the Finals.

Given the context of the rotten situation that the Butler fiasco put Tom Thibodeau, Scott Layden and the entire Timberwolves organization through, this little-L loss felt a lot more like a win.

Reporting with @ZachLowe_NBA and @WindhorstESPN on details surrounding All-Star Jimmy Butler joining the 76ers in a trade:

BREAKING: 76ers acquire Jimmy Butler from the Wolves in multiplayer deal including Dario Saric, Robert Covington and a pick, per report

The other concern: whether Butler's electrifying personality has the chance of short-circuiting the delicate chemistry of an NBA team.

The Wolves on Saturday agreed to trade Butler and Justin Patton to the Philadelphia 76ers for Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless and a second-round pick in 2022, a source confirmed to the Star Tribune.

Sources on @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium: Minnesota and Philadelphia have trade call with the NBA on Monday to complete the Jimmy Butler trade.

My thoughts on the Jimmy Butler Trade. In five years I’m going to be doing this in my pajamas while smoking a pipe.

The Timberwolves -- who have moved into the modern NBA this season as they have shot eight more three-pointers a game than last season, when they took fewer threes than any other team -- added two excellent shooters on team-friendly deals.

Jimmy Butler trade from a Warriors perspective -A win for them that the Rockets didnt get him -The East top 4 (Celtics, Raptors, Bucks, Sixers with Butler) currently feels much more dangerous than the glut of West teams below GSW

Breaking: The 76ers have agreed to acquire Jimmy Butler in a trade with the Timberwolves, sources tell @wojespn and @ZachLowe_NBA.

FINAL TRADE: Philly gets: Jimmy Butler, Justin Patton Minny gets: Dario, Covington, Bayless, 2nd rounder