The Wolves are going to be in trouble if Butler misses a bunch of time. Their net rating plummets from plus-7.8 when he plays to minus-8.7 when he sits, by far the biggest on/off plunge for any Minnesota player. Butler nightly takes on the toughest perimeter defensive assignment; even with him leading the team in minutes the Wolves still only manage the 26th-ranked defense by defensive rating; when he sits, their defensive rating goes from a perfectly respectable 105 points per 100 possessions to a truly stomach-churning 116, a number that is more than five points worse than the Phoenix Suns’ league-worst defense.