Jimmy Butler held what he described as a players-only meeting with his Minnesota Timberwolves teammates on Thursday, a day after he reported to the team for a first, contentious practice. A deal that would've shipped him to the Heat almost came to fruition over the weekend, but those talks fell apart despite the Heat's efforts to build a package around young players and draft picks. Minnesota would be wise to trade Butler before the opener to avoid this distraction from becoming a potential season-derailing issue.

"It's fluid", Minnesota coach Tom Thibodeau said earlier this week of Butler's trade demand. I was completely honest about everything.

Butler confirmed the meeting in a text to ESPN's Rachel Nichols.

As told by Reusse, Butler and Wahlberg became friendly in 2013, when Butler was still playing for the Bulls and Wahlberg was filming "Transformers: Age of Extinction" in Chicago.

Minnesota's star swingman, who has been at odds with the organization for almost a month, requested a trade from the Timberwolves on September 19. For what it's worth, Teague said the Wolves "played hard" at Wednesday's practice.

It's not clear what Butler's outburst means for Minnesota.

"It could be, it could be", Butler said.

General Manger Daryl Morey's calculus likely concluded that surrendering two starters for one player with injury concerns may not help the team improve on last season's National Basketball Association best 65 wins. I'm telling you nobody in that locker room is gonna say that he is a bad teammate. The Timberwolves had canceled Thursday's practice after Wednesday's heated scene.

"I love Jimmy, man", Teague said Wednesday. Like it or not, it wasn't just then, so we can put that to rest.

"I think that's the part everybody doesn't see", Butler said. "Yeah, that's who am I", he said.

So where do we stand in the Jimmy Butler trade saga seven days from opening night?