Here is a fun graphic, tweeted out last night by ESPN after Paul George was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a couple decent role-players:

Jimmy Butler held his introductory press conference up in Minnesota this morning, and when he was asked about rumors of his discontent in Chicago, he waved it off and encouraged anyone who wanted to to hit him up. “My phone’s in my back pocket,” he said, “773-899-6071.”

Celtics GM Danny Ainge has established a bit of a routine as he’s spent the past few years running the rich-getting-richer version of Sam Hinkie’s Process: The Celtics are rumored to be targeting this or that star or star-in-making in a potential trade, the gossip rises to a fever pitch, and then nothing happens, and…

The Minnesota Timberwolves managed to snag Jimmy Butler from the Chicago Bulls last night, and the price they paid for him leaves me wondering how the hell no other teams snapped him up first.

A few hours after Jimmy Butler was traded to the Timberwolves for some odds and ends lying around the office, his trainer had some strong words for the Bulls’ front office:

Days of frenzied Jimmy Butler trade rumors have apparently met their end, via reports from Adrian Wojnarowski and the Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson, among others. The Bulls are sending Butler and their No. 16 draft pick to Minnesota in exchange for shooting guard Zach LaVine, point guard Kris Dunn and the No. 7 pick…

The Golden State Warriors have been champions for one week, and the rest of the NBA is already scrambling to get in position to beat them next year. The Cavs have spent the past few days on a nonsensical roller coaster, flirting with soon-to-be ex-Pacer Paul George then self-immolating and stunting any progress they’d…

After overcoming a 16-point lead, four threes from career 30 percent three-point shooter Rajon Rondo, and 37 points from Jimmy Butler, the Toronto Raptors beat the Chicago Bulls tonight. It took them 122 points and five minutes of overtime to do so, but for the first time in 12 matchups, the Raptors won.

With the Boston Celtics leading the Chicago Bulls 103-102 in the waning moments of Thursday night’s game, Jimmy Butler attempted a game-winning shot and missed.

The Chicago Bulls attempted to halt their public meltdown on Friday and get their season back on track, but from the comments of all those involved, it doesn’t seem like it will be quite so easy.

The beef that Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler slapped on the grill after last night’s chokejob against the Hawks has just been flipped over and salted by Rajon Rondo, who went in on the team’s leaders this evening on Instagram.

A whole season’s worth of frustration came to a head for the Chicago Bulls tonight. Chicago is 23-24, just a hair ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks for the eighth seed, and they have an indisputably worthy all-star starter in Jimmy Butler. Yet the team is clearly harboring some internal tensions and tonight they all came…

David Blaine television specials are like evolved versions of Punk’d in that they seem to exist primarily to temporarily bring celebrities down to level of the viewer: astonished, freaked out, and unsure of what humanity is capable of. Last night ABC aired a new Blaine special called Beyond Magic, which featured a…

Followup:

Whenever the air comes out of any high-pressure situation in the NBA, it tends to precipitate a fallout where all manner of unfavorable gossip finds its way to the surface.

Chicago Bulls scoring machine Jimmy Butler left tonight’s game in Denver against the Nuggets after suffering a sprained knee late in the first half.

Missing Pau Gasol and Derrick Rose, the Bulls spent most of Thursday night’s game against the 76ers looking like they’d never played basketball with each other before. They were down by as many as 24 points in the second quarter, and had 23 turnovers for the game. Here is Joakim Noah giving a visual representation of…

The Bulls went up to Toronto without Derrick Rose today in need of some momentum. Chicago appears to have fairly structural problems with their chemistry and offense, but they still have the talent to mount a decent challenge in the East. There’s a glut of kinda-sorta good teams in the East and, as flawed as the Bulls…

Maybe this was the play design all along, or maybe Pau Gasol just saw an opening and lofted the ball up. Either way this play should’ve been dead in the water, with Jimmy Butler blanketed by Paul George and unable to grab the ball and dunk it home. Instead, Butler deftly tapped the ball into the hoop, and the Bulls…