Monday is media day around the NBA, but one of the league’s top stars won’t be stepping in front of the cameras to talk about being in the best shape of his life.

Jimmy Butler has been “granted permission to not participate in” the Minnesota Timberwolves’ season-opening festivities, saving him — temporarily, at least — from having to answer questions about requesting that the team trade him away just one year after importing him, about the evidently impassible interpersonal divide between him and newly maxed-out franchise cornerstone Karl-Anthony Towns, about an exploding media beef that somehow came to involve Wiggins’ brother and Stephen Jackson, about the internecine strife between coach/president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau and owner Glen Taylor, and more. (That doesn’t mean they won’t be asked, of course; it’s just that everybody else will have to field them. Thanks again, Jimmy!)

Butler will need to address those issues at some point or another — likely seated at a table in a media interview room in some new location, as part of a news conference introducing him as The Newest Member of Team X. In the here and now, though, the $64,000 (or, really, $190 million) question is just which team that will be. This weekend’s rumblings suggest that there won’t be any shortage of suitors for the four-time All-Star.

While ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Monday morning that Taylor “has mandated that a deal needs to be negotiated […] in the next several days,” in spite of Thibodeau’s persistent reticence to part ways with the player most responsible for Minnesota’s return to postseason play last year, talks have reportedly yet to get serious. There appear to be plenty of teams looking to move in that direction, though.

Woj’s latest report highlights eight teams, in particular:

But the Clippers, Nets — two of the three teams Butler reportedly first told the Wolves he’d most like to be shipped to, since he’d be interested in re-signing with them come the offseason — Pistons, Rockets, Heat, 76ers, Trail Blazers and Kings aren’t alone in at least having an interest in kicking the tires on a Butler deal:

And who might some of those teams be? Well, there’s one that just lost an All-NBA forward this summer and made clear by extending Kevin Love that it isn’t looking to take too large a step backward …

… and maybe one that just added one of those two-way game-changers, and could look to double down on its big summertime wager by going all in for Butler …

… and two others interested in making a rise up the Eastern Conference ranks …

All this interest stands to reason, what with Butler being … y’know … very good at basketball. Eleven NBA players averaged at least 20 points, five rebounds and four assists per game last season. Only two also made an All-Defensive team: Butler and Victor Oladipo. If we’re talking about guys who maybe should have gotten an All-Defense nod, you can add Giannis Antetokounmpo to the list. (For what it’s worth, Oladipo’s team is one of the few that’s reportedly been confirmed to not be thinking about making a play for Butler.)

There are few players who rival Butler’s total impact on both ends of the court; it’s small wonder, then, that a smooth 40 percent of the league reportedly has at least some level of interest in securing his services. How serious that interest is, though, and how many stay in the running will likely depend on Minnesota’s asking price.

Portland’s reportedly unwilling to consider moving either of their two star guards, Damian Lillard or C.J. McCollum, and can’t jettison re-signed center Jusuf Nurkic until mid-January. Ditto for the just-extended Love, which might make it tough for the Cavs to build a package that moves the needle for Minnesota.

Miami’s probably going to blanch at the idea of moving all of its best young pieces — Josh Richardson (the Heat’s best young player on a very affordable deal), Justise Winslow and Bam Adebayo — even for a player who seems like a perfect fit in the Heat’s hard-charging culture. The same’s probably true for the Knicks, who seem content to keep their powder dry and spend the season finding out what they’ve got in the likes of Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina while Kristaps Porzingis gets healthy. A Sixers team that struck out on difference-makers during the summer, and that harbors championship aspirations, might make sense, but is Philly ready to cut bait on the refurbished Markelle Fultz or cash in the bargain chip of glue-guy forward Dario Saric?

Would Milwaukee be up for moving Khris Middleton? And, with Middleton also set to hit the unrestricted market next summer, would Minnesota take a return without any certainty beyond this season? The Raptors made sure to hang on to versatile young forwards O.G. Anunoby and Pascal Siakam in the Kawhi Leonard deal, but would Masai Ujiri put them on the table now for another star who can skate in a year? Can Daryl Morey make a credible enough offer, perhaps built around sixth man Eric Gordon and defensive stalwart P.J. Tucker, to lure another Warriors-combating star to Houston? Would any other destination meet Butler’s reported interest in both landing in a major market and joining a legitimate contender?

As we near the one-week mark since Butler’s request lobbed a grenade into the final hours of quiet before the 2018-19 NBA season kicked off in earnest, we’ve still got more questions than answers. What we do know, though, is that the man who owns the Wolves is eager to send his disgruntled All-Star elsewhere … and that there are a lot of elsewheres interested in being the next place Jimmy Butler calls home.

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Dan Devine is a writer and editor for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoosports.com or follow him on Twitter!

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