Rumor: Butler’s discontent with the front office goes way back

This was mentioned in the comments yesterday and I’ve seen it floating around, but below is the first I’d actual heard of this rumor: that the Bulls threatened Jimmy Butler with losing playing time after he turned down an early contract extension in 2014.

The voice is ESPN Radio’s Ryen Russilio, who’d been based out of Boston for years, so you can infer some bias if you’d like. Either that he got this info from a Thibodeau-based source, or it’s that dastardly Danny Ainge trying to suppress Jimmy’s value!

I’m with Ricky here, though. It sounds ridiculous, but also very Bullsian.

For more on the Bulls recent drama, shout-out to the SBNation NBA folks who focused their weekly discussion on the matter.