The big story of the offseason for the Timberwolves was the team’s shocking decision to trade Karl-Anthony Towns in exchange for Randle and DiVincenzo; however, now, there is speculation that the team could look to make further moves to try to save their season.

One of the hottest names on the trade market currently is that of Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, who played for the Timberwolves in 2018, and the team was recently linked to the star in trade talks once again — but not in the way you might think.

“The Raptors are volunteering to participate in an eventual Butler trade as a third- or fourth-team facilitator that doesn’t land Butler but takes part in the transaction,” reported Marc Stein on his Substack, citing intel from Doug Smith of the Toronto Star.

“When I relayed that to one well-placed source, I was told that ‘about half the league’ has made similar feelings known to the Heat as they try to concoct a trade that brings this saga to an end.

That group is believed to include the Timberwolves … but, again, in the role of trade facilitator and not with the intent to bring Butler back to Minnesota.”

At this point, it’s unclear what contracts or players the Timberwolves would be looking to absorb to help facilitate such a trade.

Are the Timberwolves cooked?

Ordinarily, a team that is just eight months removed from the Conference Finals with their best player being 23 years old would be in one of the more enviable situations in the entire league.

However, that isn’t necessarily the case for Minnesota, who puzzled their fans by trading franchise cornerstone Towns in September and have seen regression up and down the roster so far this year.

Of course, there’s still plenty of time to turn things around, and the Western Conference hasn’t been quite as elite as many anticipated so far this year.

The Timberwolves will next take the court on Monday vs the Memphis Grizzlies.