Jimmy Butler’s awesome practice blow-up actually appears to have been a well-crafted media opp

Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Jimmy Butler broke Sports Twitter on Wednesday afternoon when Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a different kind of #WojBomb.

All-Star Jimmy Butler participated in Minnesota's practice, a session that included him verbally challenging teammates, coaches and front office, league sources told ESPN. Butler was vociferous and emotional at times, targeting Thibodeau/Layden/Towns/Wiggins. Story soon on ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 10, 2018

At one point in a scrimmage, sources said, Butler turned to GM Scott Layden and screamed, "You (bleeping) need me. You can't win without me." Butler left teammates and coaches largely speechless. He dominated the gym in every way. Jimmy's back.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 10, 2018

It felt like the perfect culmination of everything that has been happening between Butler and the Timberwolves. Their disgruntled star demanded a trade a few weeks back and almost got his wish over the weekend. The proposed trade that would have sent Butler to the Miami Heat fell apart, surely leaving him feeling even more frustrated as he tries to force his way out of town. That he would then go on a tirade and take over a practice in such a brash, outspoken way felt like the kind of real-life soap opera storytelling that only the NBA seems capable of providing.

A lot of Minnesota players left Timberwolves practice today energized by Butler's performance, mesmerized with him taking end-of-the-bench players and running the table on the regulars, sources said. At the end, he marched out like if a mic drop. Butler delivered a tour de force.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 10, 2018

However, by the time Butler sat down with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols an hour later, everyone started to raise their eyebrows just a little bit. Nichols just so happened to be in Minnesota on the same day Butler went ham on his teammates in the midst of an ongoing kerfuffle with management? That seemed…fortuitous.

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1050138641278881792

You didn’t have to be Alex Jones to connect the dots from how Butler goes from calling out his bosses and taking over team practice to sitting down with an ESPN host soonafter. It also left you with a pretty decent idea as to who Woj’s sources were on the breaking news.

https://twitter.com/AndyGlockner/status/1050145605371088896

https://twitter.com/highkin/status/1050145948595175424

Sure enough, Nichols came out and said what the deal was in order to undercut any thoughts of underhanded behavior.

Got the call last night that @JimmyButler was ready to talk. Jumped on a plane this morning, and wow – turns out he certainly was. We’ll have lots more on @SportsCenter tonight and then you know we’ll have evvvvvvvverything on #TheJump at 3p ET tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/C89gpLdTUa

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 10, 2018

And so, in a way, it’s refreshing to just see how the sausage was made on this one. As noted in a tweet above, this truly was pro wrestling storytelling with Butler as the Stone Cold Steve Austin to the Timberwolves’ Vince McMahon. Whatever plans the Wolves had for today were completely derailed when Butler showed up, grabbed the bench players, dominated Minny’s other stars, and basically told everyone what they now knew…that he was not only the best player in the gym but also their only chance to succeed this season.

According to Butler, the entire incident didn’t really accomplish much with his bosses (“It’s not fixed…It could be. Do I think so? No.”) but then again maybe that wasn’t the point. Everyone is talking about Jimmy Butler right now. He’s trending on Twitter. He picked a fight with a group of people no one will root for, a bunch of executives. He made sure he could be in front of a camera to explain everything shortly after it happened. And those who know the whole thing was a “work” are a small minority of the overall audience. Everyone else is just a “mark” who bought the story he sold.

Jimmy Butler talked to @Rachel__Nichols about the incident with Karl-Anthony Towns during practice today. pic.twitter.com/Rje1IIV2oH

— ESPN (@espn) October 10, 2018

Mission accomplished, whether you think it was shady or not.

[ESPN]