Timberwolves reached out to the Bulls about a Jimmy Butler trade, per report

The Minnesota Timberwolves reached out to the Chicago Bulls in regard to a trade for Jimmy Butler, according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Bulls asking price is still high, according to Woj, but the Timberwolves have a mix of draft picks and young players who could entice the Bulls, who won’t commit to building around Butler for the future.

A trade to Minnesota would reunite Butler with Tom Thibodeau, who now coaches the Timberwolves but developed the forward as head coach in Chicago. It would also give the Wolves a legitimate All-Star to lead a trio of talented young players — Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine — into the Western Conference playoff picture, though one of those three would have to head to Chicago in any trade.

Butler made his first All-Star start this season while averaging 24 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.5 assists for the Bulls. He has three years remaining on his contract worth more than $56 million but can opt out of the third year of his deal to test free agency and command a max offer.

To keep it simple, let’s say Towns and Wiggins are untouchable. Here are the rest of the Timberwolves players and assets this summer:

Ricky Rubio — $14.25M
Gorgui Dieng — $14.1M
Nikola Pekovic — $11.6M
Cole Aldrich — $7.3M
Jordan Hill (player option) — $4.1M
Kris Dunn — $4M
Zach LaVine — $3.2M
Nemanja Bjelica — $3.95M
Tyus Jones — $1.4M

The Timberwolves aren’t getting Butler at a discount. Chicago’s asking price has gone up for the All-Star wing, and it’s hard to envision the Bulls giving him up for less than they could get elsewhere.

That would make LaVine the primary trade chip in a Butler deal. The Timberwolves would also have to add Rubio or Dieng to make the salaries match.

In Butler, the Timberwolves get the All-Star they need to make a run at playoff contention. The West is stacked, but with a legitimate All-Star and a duo of budding stars, Minnesota becomes an attractive destination for free agents if Butler sticks around after his 2018 free agency.

Even if he doesn’t, the Timberwolves would still have a battle-tested Towns and Wiggins to retool around.

The trade could also put Thibodeau and Butler back together to form one of the best coach-player combinations in the league.

LaVine missed the second half of the season after tearing his left ACL in early February. Despite a breakout third NBA season — 18.9 points per game on 38.7 percent three-point shooting — such a debilitating injury casts a shadow over a player whose biggest advantage was surreal athleticism.

But LaVine made a huge leap from Year 2 to Year 3. He developed into a sniper from three-point range and showed he, too, could carve out a solid role as a starter in the NBA. That was before his injury, but the flashes were there.

The Bulls could get a legitimate young player, along with a serviceable vet and one of the Timberwolves’ draft picks — maybe even the seventh overall this year.

Butler to the Timberwolves makes sense, but other teams will compete for the All-Star’s services. Cleveland was inquiring about a deal with Chicago before David Griffin stepped down as GM. He wasn’t the first and surely won’t be the last executive to engage in trade talks.

For that reason, I give this deal a 50 percent chance at happening this summer. The reunion of coach and player sounds good, but the reality is Chicago will take the best offer it’s made. And if another team swoops in with a better offer, the Timberwolves will either have to pay up or let Butler go elsewhere.