Fantasy Slant: Timberwolves Acquire Jimmy Butler from the Bulls

By Vincent Frank on Friday, June 23rd 2017
Fantasy Slant: Timberwolves Acquire Jimmy Butler from the Bulls

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Chicago Bulls made a blockbuster draft night trade. It's one that could set Minnesota up for contention out west, while the Bulls themselves are seemingly going into full rebuild mode. 

Chicago sent All-Star guard Jimmy Butler and the 16th pick to Minnesota in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the seventh pick in the draft. 

This deal gives Minnesota a power trio of Butler, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. It's the type of top-end talent the Wolves have been looking for over the course of the past several seasons. 

Last year saw Butler turn in his best performance to date in the Windy City. He averaged 23.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists while shooting at a 46 percent clip from the field. This enabled Butler to rank as one of the top fantasy two-guards in the entire game. 

Butler's presence in Minnesota should have a domino effect. With KAT manning the inside, expect Butler to have more open shots out in the perimeter. He shot 57 percent on uncontested jumpers this past season. In turn, Towns himself should also see less double teams, as opponents will be afraid to leave Butler open out on the wing. 

As for Wiggins, there's not a lot more we can place on his fantasy value until he doesn't something more than scoring. With Butler's two-way game, it's possible Wiggins can improve in other fronts. 

More than anything, Towns now has an elite wing scorer to go with his inside game. Considering the big man averaged 25.1 points and 12.3 rebounds as a sophomore, the sky really seems to be the limit in terms of his fantasy potential this upcoming season. 

We'll analyze the trade from Chicago's perspective a bit later in the day. But for now, look for immediate spikes in production from both Butler and Towns. 

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