Despite the reluctance of head coach and president Tom Thibodeau, the Minnesota Timberwolves are determined to find a trade for Jimmy Butler before the start of the season.According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, owner Glen Taylor has told his front office to pursue deals for the disgruntled All-Star who requested a trade last week.Thibodeau and general manager Scott Layden initially rebuffed calls from teams as they had no intentions of parting with the veteran but Taylor has stepped in and made it clear that they must do business.Butler will be a free agent next summer and the T-Wolves owner is not prepared to lose him for nothing.

Teams on alert

With this latest development, several teams have entered the sweepstakes for the 29-year-old.

But Wojnarowski claims of the interested parties, the Miami Heat have perhaps been the most aggressive in their pursuit of the former Chicago Bulls man.

Taylor and Heat president Pat Riley reportedly had a discussion at a recent NBA Board of Governors meeting.

Minnesota has granted Butler permission to skip the team's media day on Monday as well the start of training camp, with the hope that he'll be offloaded by the end of the week.

Miami was unable to attract any marquee free agents this summer and did very little business outside of re-signing veteran duo Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem.

The Heat will certainly hope that any deal between the two teams includes Hassan Whiteside, who is on a huge contract that they are desperate to ship.

That could potentially work as the Timberwolves are keen to add Gorgui Dieng to any trade that takes place.

But the men from South Beach will face stiff competition for Butler's signature as the likes of the Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers have all reportedly made enquiries about him.

Wojnarowski reported last week that the shooting guard provided the T-Wolves with a list of three teams he'd like to join - the Nets, Clippers and New York Knicks.

However, he certainly won't be opposed to a move to Miami as it would reunite him with close friend and former Bulls teammate Wade.

With all parties desperate to make a deal as soon as possible, we should see the situation escalate this week and expect another big trade to take place.

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