The Minnesota Timberwolves positive season took a sour turn on Friday night when All-Star forward Jimmy Butler suffered a knee injury. While it didn’t look good, the severity is not yet known. X-rays came back as negative but Butler is not out of the woods yet as he’ll have to go for an MRI on Saturday.
It was a bit of an odd injury as it all began with Butler battling Nene in the paint. Nene fell into Butler’s left knee on a seemingly innocuous play but then shortly after, Butler’s right knee gave out on a shot attempt. He fell to the ground holding his knee and was subsequently helped off the court. He wasn’t able to put any pressure on it, which is has many expecting the worst.
The Timberwolves are currently in fourth place in the Western Conference standings with a record of 36-26. They’ve been in a slump, dropping four of their last six, and losing Butler could severely impact their betting odds. He
In terms of a nightly basis, Butler is worth about two-to-three points on the betting line. As for the Timberwolves futures to win the NBA Championship, BetDSI Sportsbook currently has them at 60/1. If the injury is serious and Butler is due to miss the rest of the season, they’ll drop into the neighborhood of 70/1.
Although Butler was the only player who didn’t see a minute of action in the All-Star game, he has been one of the most heavily used players in regular season action. He leads the league in minutes played and is third in the league in fourth quarter points per game.
From a fantasy perspective, if Butler is out for the rest of the season, look for guys like Nemanja Bjelica, Jamal Crawford and Andrew Wiggins to benefit in terms of playing time.
The timing is fairly bad for Butler as the Timberwolves next contest is a home game with the Chicago Bulls, Butler’s former team. The Timberwolves lost by a point in Chicago on February 9th, so there’s no question that both Butler and the team had this game circled for revenge. Keep an eye on the news wires on Saturday as we’re sure to get more information about Butler then.
