MIAMI — Karl-Anthony Towns has no interest in revisiting his time with Jimmy Butler as teammates on the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The tumultuous relationship, which helped end Minnesota’s 13-year playoff drought, was marked by fireworks both on and off the court — moments Towns prefers to leave in the past as he prepared for his first matchup against Butler as a Knick on Wednesday.
“I’m here in New York. That’s all I’m thinking about right now,” Towns said after Wednesday’s morning shootaround at the Kaseya Center. “I’m a Knick. You bringing up Minnesota. I’m not a Timberwolf anymore. I’m a Knick.”
Despite the history, Towns insisted there’s no extra motivation in facing Butler for the first time since their Minnesota breakup. The game also marks the first time that Towns, Butler and head coach Tom Thibodeau— who coached them both during that roller-coaster year-and-a-half run — will share the court since Butler’s trade to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2018.
“My motivation is to win games. To win basketball games. So that’s all I’m really worried about,” Towns said. “Trying to get one in the left column. We’ve gone win, loss, win, loss, so trying to make it a win tonight.”
Butler’s current co-star, Bam Adebayo, also downplayed any lingering tension between the two former teammates following the Heat’s shootaround.
“I don’t think [Jimmy] gets fired up for matchups,” Adebayo said. “I think if they start it, that’s when it starts, or he’ll feel like he’ll see something, and he just digs. So I don’t think there’s any — for him, mentally, I don’t think there’s anything.”
But what could set Butler off?
“I — listen — I just think in a game, he’ll see body language or see something small like that,” Adebayo said. “And he just goes with it.”
For basketball fans, though, it’s hard not to bring up the past. Butler and Towns were once expected to lead Minnesota to perennial title contention, but their partnership lasted just a year and a half. After making the playoffs with a 47-35 record in 2018, Butler requested a trade, famously skipping practice before showing up later to curse out his teammates in a scrimmage, only to sit down with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols soon after to tell his side of the story.
Former Timberwolves point guard Jeff Teague, who was part of the team that snapped Minnesota’s playoff drought, shed light on how things quickly unraveled during an episode of his “Club 520” podcast. According to Teague, Butler initially intended to defer to Towns and Andrew Wiggins, but that plan fell apart after just a few games.
“Jimmy’s like [Kat’s] the best player. We gonna let him do his thing. Him and Wiggs are gonna carry the team. I’m gonna do everything else. You’re gonna run the show, because that … [Kat is] special,” Teague recalled. “[At] about game four, Jimmy said ‘f–k this s–t, this ain’t gonna work. I thought they were something else. They ain’t.’”
Towns addressed Teague’s comments during an appearance on Paul George’s podcast but made it clear he wasn’t there to talk about Butler.
“Much respect to Jimmy. I needed the help to get to my first playoffs. It’s a team game and we both did a lot of work to get us there so shoutout to him. I don’t wanna disrespect him,” Towns said. “I wasn’t raised to disrespect nobody. I’m not a disrespectful kind of man. I give him the flowers. I give him his flowers for sure, we did something special.”
Towns also reflected on how he chose to remain silent at the time, despite the criticisms swirling around his relationship with Butler.
“Things happened the way they happened. It is what it is. Could I have said more when I was younger at that point? I could, but I really cared about the organization. I cared about that shield, that logo that we all wear, the NBA logo, and I was only about being a professional,” Towns said. “So could I have said something? Could I have said my truth and probably saved me a lot of stigmas and narratives people paint on me? For sure. But I took the approach of a wise man. A wise man says nothing at all. I took the high road and just worried about playing basketball.”
Both Towns and Butler have moved on, donning different jerseys. Towns was traded to the Knicks in a deal that sent Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota ahead of training camp, while Butler forced his way out of Minnesota, later leaving Philadelphia in free agency to join the Miami Heat.
Towns also revealed that his relationship with Thibodeau, their former coach, has evolved over the years.
“That was years and years ago,” Towns said. “We’re totally different men. So it’s cool to be in this spot in our lives together.”
Although Towns chose not to comment on his current status with Butler, he previously said on George’s podcast that the two are now in a good place.
“Obviously social media took it a whole other way,” Towns said. “I could say from then on, me and Jimmy, we had our differences, but we saw each other at All-Star, and we’ve talked, and I’ve asked about how his family was and I think we at a cool spot. I can’t hold grudges. I ain’t got no time for that s–t.”
“I’m not raised to disrespect men or women — and I’m always gonna back myself up, but I’m not gonna just be out here publicly disrespecting people when I’ve got a job that’s taking care of me and my family for life. I ain’t tryna be out here trying to play for social media. I’m out here trying to play for the Wolves. So that’s how my mindset was. Could I have done something different? Fo sho. Most likely could have. But I picked the road I picked. I hope real fans see the character I hold, because I could have said a lot more, I could have done a lot more, I could have played the game, and I didn’t. I decided not to. That’s me though. That’s my recollection.”
