Jimmy Butler’s public trade dissatisfaction with the Minnesota Timberwolves appears to be having an adverse effect on the court to start the season. For a team with a young core coming off the franchise’s first playoff appearance in nearly two decades, the Wolves are trending in the wrong direction, losing their last three games in advance of a showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.

Paul Pierce believes it is time for the Wolves to move on from Butler and put this situation behind the team, allowing them to move forward with their young core and remove the distraction that Butler has caused in Minneapolis.

“If I’m going to go day-to-day and not know if he’s going to be in the lineup or not, it messes with your chemistry,” Pierce said. “The unpredictability of it is too much from day-in to day-out.”

Butler did, in fact, suit up for the Wolves against the Lakers Wednesday night, but his 24 points were not enough, as the Lakers prevailed 114-110, sending Minnesota to their fourth consecutive loss and a 4-8 overall record.

Perhaps the player that has been most affected by all this drama has been former No. 1 overall pick, Karl-Anthony Towns, who seems to have lost the confidence that helped make him an All-Star last season. KAT struggled against the Lakers scoring just 13 points on 5-16 shooting. Pierce wants to see Towns become more aggressive than he has been so far this season.

“They need (Towns) to get more assertive,” Pierce said. “If you look at his numbers with Jimmy Butler, as compared to when Jimmy Butler sits, he needs to come in with that same aggression.”