The Minnesota Timberwolves spent Saturday night doing what a lot of NBA fans do this time of year: watching someone else hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy. This time, it was former Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns celebrating a championship with the New York Knicks after they knocked off the San Antonio Spurs in five games. And for a certain segment of Timberwolves fans, the celebration turned into a very specific kind of trolling.
Almost immediately after the final buzzer, social media lit up with messages aimed directly at Jimmy Butler — the former Timberwolves forward whose messy 2018-19 exit from Minnesota included very public complaints about Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Both players now have championship rings. Butler does not.
“Number of NBA championships: Karl-Anthony Towns: 1, Andrew Wiggins: 1, Jimmy Butler: 0,” one fan posted on Bluesky. Another was blunter: “Go f*** yourself, Jimmy Butler.”
Context, of course, matters. Neither Towns nor Wiggins was the primary option on their championship teams. Wiggins won as a role player alongside Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in 2022. Towns arrived in New York via trade last summer and this year served as a secondary scoring option behind Jalen Brunson. Butler, on the other hand, was unequivocally the alpha on the Miami Heat teams he dragged to the NBA Finals in 2020 and 2023. He was the engine, the closer, the reason those teams overachieved.
But Timberwolves fans weren’t exactly interested in nuance. The Butler era in Minnesota ended with him demanding a trade, skipping practice, and reportedly torching teammates in an infamous practice session where he reportedly yelled, “They f***ing need me.” That wound still feels fresh, even if the calendar says otherwise.
On the court, the Timberwolves have their own problems. They’re entering an offseason that feels critical. Anthony Edwards is the star, a legitimate franchise cornerstone, but the roster around him is full of question marks. Julius Randle struggled in the playoffs and his trade value is uncertain. Rudy Gobert remains an elite defender, but at 32 years old with a massive contract, it’s unclear whether he’s a long-term fit. The team has not confirmed any trade discussions, but league sources suggest Minnesota is exploring ways to upgrade the roster without sacrificing future flexibility.
For now, the Timberwolves are stuck in the murky middle of the Western Conference — good enough to compete, not quite good enough to contend. But as long as Edwards is in town, there’s a path forward. And fans will always have this: at least they can laugh at Jimmy Butler’s ring count while they figure it out.
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