National Basketball Association

Timberwolves to sign Rasual Butler to non-guaranteed deal

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Timberwolves continue to add to their growing stable of wing players, signing Rasual Butler to a non-guaranteed training camp contract.

While the Wolves never made a splash in free agency or on the trade market like many expected (read: hoped) that they might, they’ve certainly made a bevy of smaller, more modest moves.

After signing reserves Cole Aldrich, Brandon Rush, and Jordan Hill to contracts over the summer, the Timberwolves moved to sign Toure Murry and John Lucas III to training camp deals just a few weeks ago.

And now, they’ve added guard/forward Rasual Butler to the fold.

The 37 year-old Butler played in 40 games for the San Antonio Spurs last season, averaging just 9.4 minutes per game and shooting just 30.6 percent from beyond the arc.

But just the previous season, Butler played north of 20 minutes per contest and shot threes at a 38.7 percent clip with the Washington Wizards. And in 2013-14, Butler shot 41.9 percent on three-pointers in limited play with the Indiana Pacers.

There’s a solid chance that the newest non-guaranteed signing doesn’t make the squad, but I’d say he has a better shot than either Murry or Lucas. As the saying goes, you never can have too much shooting, while the Wolves (barring injury, of course) seem to be in a good spot at the point guard spot.

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Butler will compete to insert himself in a wing rotation that includes Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, and Brandon Rush. It’s actually not all that deep, considering Butler would only be the third player on the roster that would play both the ‘two’ and the ‘three’.

Three-point shooting is something that this roster sorely lacked last season, and Rush and Butler would be the only two improvements made by the new regime — although it’s certainly true that simply attempting more shots from beyond the arc will catapult the Timberwolves’ offense to never-before-seen heights.

We’ll keep an eye on Rush and the other non-roster invitees as camp opens next week. Don’t be surprised if Adreian Payne is moved. Along with Kevin Garnett‘s reportedly pending buyout, the Wolves would have a couple of roster spots to play with.

Add in the uncertainty surrounding Nikola Pekovic (yes, this is the third straight September that we’ve said that) and there are still a few minor question marks surrounding Tom Thibodeau’s squad as finish the month of September.

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