According to multiple reports, Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star guard Jimmy Butler turned down a four-year contract extension worth approximately $110 million.
In an interview with a local ESPN radio affiliate, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor acknowledged that Butler had rejected the offer.
"We offered him the extension, and they've met and come back to us and said they're really appreciative of it, they appreciate that we got to them right away and all that, but they declined it," Taylor said of the extension, per ESPN's Nick Friedell.
"They said, 'You guys have done everything and we're very appreciative, but our bet is that we should wait 'til next year and we could get ourselves a better deal.' ... We did everything we could, and they want to do what they think is right for Jimmy."
Provided Butler stays healthy and delivers another All-Star season this year, he could earn a bigger contract in the 2019 offseason, when the salary cap is expected to rise. Next summer, Butler will be a free agent if he opts out of the final year of the 5-year $90 million contract he signed with Chicago in 2015.
In the 2017-18 season, Butler appeared in 59 games, averaging 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists. Despite missing 23 games with an injury, he helped lead Minnesota to a 47-win season and its first postseason appearance since 2004.