NBA Preview – Timberwolves Host Nets In First Game Without Jimmy Butler: Time Start, Channel, Players To Watch

Jimmy Butler’s time with the Minnesota Timberwolves (4-9) ended over the weekend. The team looks to shake off the drama the situation yielded as the Wolves host the formidable Brooklyn Nets (6-7) on Monday night.

New-Look Wolves face Nets Without butler

Coming off of a mundane loss to the Sacramento Kings, which saw center Willie Cauley Stein score 25 for the Kings’ seventh win of the season, the Wolves saw a need to make a change involving Butler. The team sent him away in return for Robert Covington, Dario Saric and Jerryd Bayless, along with a second-round pick. Butler averaged 21.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.4 steals and 1 block with 1.4 turnovers this season, making him the team’s most impactful and productive player.

Karl Anthony-Towns, one of the many figures whom Butler had compiled tension with over his tenure with Minnesota, can now shake off the uncertainty and reassert himself as the go-to man for the Wolves. He’s averaging 19.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.9 steals and 2.1 blocks with 3 turnovers. Towns is also coming off of a stellar performance, though in a loss, against the Kings. He shot 55.6% from the field, scoring 39 points in 15-of-27 shooting, with 19 rebounds and just four turnovers.

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Over in Brooklyn, (or, Brooklyn on the road), the Nets are fresh off of a world-famous 20-point beating from the Golden State Warriors in the Bay. “I want to see how we bounce back from this. A 20-point loss is a 20-point loss,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “It’s an important game to test our character.”

Joe Harris led the Nets with 24 points against the Dubs, although D’Angelo Russell was the only other starter in double figures with 12. The team hopes to gravitate its play around Harris against the Wolves, who has surprised the league with his lethal shooting ability.

This is the first meeting between Brooklyn and Minnesota since Jan. 27, 2018, a game Minnesota won comfortably, 111-97.