Jaylen Brown Calls Butler a 'Stone-Cold Killer'; Marcus Morris Calls Wolves Soft
Boston Celtics stars Jaylen Brown and Marcus Morris weighed in on the ongoing drama between Jimmy Butler and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Both players ultimately sided with the four-time All-Star over the T-Wolves.
"Jimmy's a stone-cold killer," Brown said, per MassLive's Tom Westerholm. "Nothing point-blank about it. His work ethic speaks for itself, and I think that situation speaks for itself."
Morris also commented on a report by ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski that Butler rejoined the Wolves for practice Wednesday and essentially took over the practice, telling general manager Scott Layden, "You f--king need me, Scott. You can't win without me."
"Ain't nobody coming in like that, not while I'm in the gym," Morris said of that situation, per Westerholm. "There's gonna be something bigger than that, and they ain't gonna be busting our ass like that. Minnesota has been known to be a little soft, so you know how that goes."
During an interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols, Butler didn't discuss Wojnarowski's story blow-by-blow but said, "A lot of it's true." He added that he and the Timberwolves have yet to repair their fractured relationship.
Butler's return came as he's attempting to engineer his exit from Minneapolis. Those attempts have been unsuccessful so far, with Wojnarowski reporting a proposed trade between the Timberwolves and Miami Heat fell through.
Brown and Morris aren't the first opposing players to come out publicly in defense of Butler. Oklahoma City Thunder star Paul George told reporters Friday he's "on Jimmy's side" after speaking directly to Butler, per ESPN.com's Royce Young:
The longer this all drags on, the worse the Timberwolves look and the more harm they risk doing to their long-term future.
Karl-Anthony Towns is less than a month removed from signing his five-year max extension and now has to answer questions about a teammate who essentially threw him under the bus.
Some people couldn't ignore the results of this year's annual general manager survey. In 2017, 29 percent of league GMs voted Towns the one player around whom they'd build their team—the highest number for any player. Towns didn't receive a single vote in that category this time around.
Whether it's fair or not, Butler's criticism of Towns hurts the perception he can be a true franchise cornerstone. That matters if the Timberwolves hope to lure another All-Star to play alongside Towns.
The Wolves front office should be concerned when Morris is willing to go on the record and call Minnesota soft. Even worse is a player of George's caliber agreeing with Butler's assessment that Towns and Andrew Wiggins are failing to make the most of their potential.
Minnesota shouldn't trade Butler for pennies on the dollar, but settling for a return of lesser value might be the team's best move if only to finally shift the focus to a post-Butler future.
