Jimmy Butler is not happy in Minnesota. That’s not breaking news. So Butler, in an attempt to force his way out of Minnesota, is on a mission to make his situation with the Timberwolves as untenable as possible. And one of his go-to tactics has been the unnecessarily inflammatory quote.

Butler’s latest came after yet another distressing Wolves loss, this time to the Sacramento Kings. Speaking to The Athletic, he dropped multiple F-bombs and offered up this doozy of a one-liner:

Did Butler and the Wolves agree to a minutes limit?

The New York Times’ Marc Stein reported earlier on Friday that Butler and the team had “established a loose limit of 32 minutes” per game. Butler’s “that s— has to stop” line would seem to jibe with that report.

Butler, however, seemed to deny that anything had been agreed upon. “Nobody talked to me about nothing,” he told The Athletic. “That’s just stuff that’s being written. I haven’t talked about minutes with nobody. I just go out there and I just play. I get lost in the game, and I want to win, and I don’t even realize that it turns into 41. I wouldn’t realize if it was 48 because I’m just out there and I’m competing.”

Does Jimmy Butler actually know what he wants?

But wait … Butler wants to “just go out there and … play,” but also wants to play less? The Athletic’s Sam Amick pressed Butler on that dichotomy:

So what exactly does Butler want? First and foremost, probably, he wants to make headlines, and remind everybody that he’s unhappy.

This isn’t the first time Butler’s preferences have been confusing. Previously on “Does Jimmy Butler actually know what he wants,” Butler, who has reiterated his desire to win time and time again, reportedly gave the Wolves some preferred destinations – either in a trade, or in free agency next summer. Those destinations? The Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat. But, as he said Friday, “all I want to do is win?”

Hm. Something seems off there.

Why Butler wants to play less

At the heart of of Butler’s “that s— has to stop” line appears to be a desire for younger players to get playing time and grow. (Why Butler is so concerned about the development of players who won’t be his teammates next year, we’re not so sure.)

“We’ve got f—ing guys who can play,” he said. “We’ve got to instill confidence in everybody. I think my confidence is high enough. I want all my guys to be successful, man. I want all these guys to play.”

So what’s the solution?

“Is that a [conversation with head coach Tom Thibodeau] that I’ve got to have? Yeah, and then everybody wants to talk about how the motherf—–’s not healthy,” he continued, referring to himself. “Well God damn, we’re playing 41, 43, 44 [minutes per game], it takes a toll on top of all the work that I do that don’t nobody even see. We’ll fix it. We’ll do something. We’ll talk.”

Butler can talk about instilling confidence in teammates all he wants. And to some extent, he might have a point. But the real reason for his demand, as Stein reported, is likely a desire to preserve his health.

Thibodeau is infamous for running his players into the ground. Butler, one of the subjects of those egregiously heavy workloads in Chicago and now Minnesota, is averaging 36.1 minutes per game despite holding out for most of training camp. That’s good for fourth-most in the NBA.

And now he and the Wolves are struggling amid the turmoil. They’re winless (0-8) on the road, and 4-9 overall. Butler, in his 41 minutes Friday night, scored just 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting. Minnesota has lost five in a row.

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