News that Jimmy Butler officially lodged his trade request from the Minnesota Timberwolves surfaced yesterday. Within hours sources close to the situation were able to help broaden our outlook on the situation. Based on their findings, it's become clear that Jimmy Butler wants to play with a franchise that has cap space to pay both him and another player a max contract. The second consideration is as follows: Butler wants to build his brand in a major market.
That's why Brooklyn, New York, and Los Angeles were listed as the frontrunner to obtain his services. The most baffling detail to come out of prelim discussions is that he prefers the Clippers to the Lakers in choosing, partly because they can offer max deals to more than one pending free agent. His collusion with Kyrie Irving is no secret: should things not pan out long-term in Boston, Jimmy would get the first look if that isn't the plan to begin with.
The other caveat is that Jimmy Butler doesn't want to play "under" LeBron James in the prime years of his career. Though he hasn't said it outright, Jimmy Butler has had issues with authority in the past, so if he was to engineer a "situation" to his liking, it might work best for everybody. The Clippers have a few attractive options they could muster in a trade if they choose to play ball with Minnesota's diminishing hourglass.
