KNICKS, NETS ON BUTLER’S WISH LIST

Disgruntled T'wolves star seeking trade to Knicks, Nets or Clippers

Just in time for training camp, Jimmy Butler wants a new home.

The signs have been pointing that way all summer for the disgruntled Timberwolves star, but he finally met with coach Tom Thibodeau on Tuesday in Los Angeles and requested a trade, The Athletic reported Wednesday. Butler gave the Timberwolves a list of three teams — the Knicks, Nets and Clippers, according to ESPN — with whom he would be interested in signing an extension after a trade.

Entering the final year of his contract, with a player option in 2019, Butler has been unhappy with his situation in Minnesota since being traded there from the Bulls in June 2017. Earlier in the offseason, the four-time AllStar reportedly rejected a fouryear, $110 million extension, and is now looking for another team to be his future. He is seeking a five-year max contract worth up to $190 million, per ESPN.

But league sources told ESPN that Thibodeau, who is also the team’s president of basketball operations, is not interested in trading Butler and will try to make a playoff run with him in the starting five.

The deteriorating relationship between some of the stars in the Timberwolves’ lineup appears to be one of the motivations behind Butler’s request. He has reportedly butted heads with younger teammates Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Butler had grown frus- trated with “the nonchalant attitudes of younger teammates,” specifically Towns, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in July. That came a month after the Sporting News reported that Butler was “uncertain” about playing with Wiggins.

The Timberwolves finished 47-35 last year as the eighth seed in the Western Conference, just sneaking into the playoffs for the first time since 2004. But their postseason didn’t last long, losing to the Rockets in five games in a first-round series.

Butler also complained during the season about the heavy minutes Thibodeau was making him play. He averaged 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 36.7 minutes per game last year.

Thibodeau was Butler’s first NBA coach with the Bulls in 2011. Chicago fired him in 2015, but then he was hired by the Timberwolves in 2016. Butler reunited with him in Minnesota a year later, getting traded for Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and the No. 7 pick in the 2017 draft, which turned into Lauri Markkanen.

If Butler does hit free agency next summer, he would join what’s expected to be a loaded class that could include the likes of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson and DeMarcus Cousins.