Jimmy Butler Injures Knee; Blame Thibs?

After apparently not playing in the All-Star game for rest, Minnesota Timberwolves' star Jimmy Butler went down with what looked to be a non-contact, right knee injury.

Butler had been bumped by Nene before going down, but the injury appeared to be unrelated to that.

Jimmy Butler assisted off floor after what appears to be a lower leg injury pic.twitter.com/27flU10iWz

— Wobibrow (@World_Wide_Wob) February 24, 2018

Jimmy Butler appears to say “it’s torn” pic.twitter.com/ZcTbFgNVll

— The Render (@TheRenderNBA) February 24, 2018

This is a tough break for Minnesota, who has had their best season since 2003-04.

Jimmy Butler was averaging 22.4 points, 5.0 assists, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game at 47.6% from field, 35.8% from 3, and 86.5% free throw shooting.

Butler was acquired over the offseason from Chicago, where he previously thrived under coach Tom Thibodeau. The star SG/SF has made a tremendous impact for Minnesota, who currently sit at 4th in the Western Conference at 36-26. 

With the Western Conference a tight race from the 3rd to 9th seed, the Timberwolves could quickly drop down the standings. Just 3 games separates the 3rd place Spurs and 9th place Clippers, and Minnesota could see themselves drop below the 4th seed and lose playoff homecourt advantage- or potentially even drop out of the playoffs. 

It didn't take long for fans and the media to turn on coach Tom Thibodeau.

If it’s a torn ACL for Butler, obviously people are going to look at Thibodeau + Jimmy’s workload over the years as driving factors.

While it’s hard to draw a 100% correlation between Butler’s injury and high usage rate, it’s hard to ignore the history with Rose, Noah and Deng.

— Phil Mackey (@PhilMackey) February 24, 2018

Thibodeau has been criticized for playing his starters extended minutes, with Jimmy Butler leading the NBA in minutes per game at 37.3.

Derrick Rose, Zach Lavine, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, and now Jimmy Butler, have had major injuries while playing heavy minutes under coach Tom Thibodeau.

Sources: X-rays on Jimmy Butler's right knee returned negative tonight, with MRI scheduled tomorrow in Minnesota and some hope around the severity.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 24, 2018

While there is some hope about severity; Kristaps Porzingis had similar hopes before being diagnosed with his ACL injury as well.

Butler suffered the knee injury after just 25 minutes of play, in the first game back in over a week.

UPDATE:

Minnesota’s Jimmy Butler has a meniscus tear in his right knee and is determining treatment options, league sources tell Yahoo.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 24, 2018

Jimmy Butler is expected to undergo surgery in coming days and could return within 4-to-6 weeks, league sources tell Yahoo. Final timetable will be set after procedure.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 25, 2018

If Butler undergoes surgery Monday, he could be available 4 weeks later on March 26 vs Memphis.

Butler would miss 12 games from a 4 week recovery, returning for the final 8 games.

If Butler has to miss 6 weeks, he would return April 9th vs Memphis. That would be the next to last game for Minnesota. Butler would miss 18 games in that case.

In a tough Western Conference, 12 games could be enough for Minnesota to slide out of the playoffs. 18 games or more could be a death blow to the franchise's hopes of competing in the playoffs.