The Timberwolves have agreed to add veteran forward Rasual Butler to their training camp roster, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). It’ll be a non-guaranteed deal for Butler, so it sounds like he’ll have a chance to earn a regular-season roster spot, but is no lock to do so.
Timberwolves head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau revealed on Wednesday that the team brought in Butler “for a couple days,” and intended to make a decision soon on whether to add him to its camp roster. As Thibodeau promised, the Wolves indeed didn’t take long to extend a camp invite to Butler.
Butler, 37, appeared in 46 games last season for the Spurs, and wasn’t a big part of the team’s rotation, averaging just 2.7 PPG and 1.2 RPG in 9.4 minutes per contest. For his career, Butler has played in more than 850 total contests (regular season and postseason), averaging 7.5 PPG and 2.4 RPG with a .362 3PT% during regular-season play.
While Butler may not have a roster spot secured with the Wolves at this point, he’s certainly familiar with this situation. As Charania observes, the former second-round pick has signed camp deals in late September in each of the last three years, with the Pacers, Wizards, and Spurs, respectively — in each case, Butler ended up on his club’s regular-season roster.
The Wolves currently have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, with John Lucas III and Toure’ Murry also in the mix on non-guaranteed deals. However, the team appears to be nearing a buyout agreement with Kevin Garnett, which would open up a 15-man roster spot.