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Tom Thibodeau pitches uninterested Jimmy Butler on rejoining Wolves

Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations and coach Tom Thibodeau met with All-Star forward Jimmy Butler on Monday to try and convince him to rejoin the team in the preseason, league sources told ESPN. Butler declined, the sources said.

Butler is uninterested in practicing or playing with the Timberwolves again, and has implored owner Glen Taylor and Thibodeau that the franchise should trade him soon, because it will lose him in summer free agency regardless, according to the sources.

The front office's strategy on the trade discussions could park Butler on the sidelines far longer than he had hoped this season, the sources said.