Last season, Shabazz Muhammad gave the Timberwolves decent looking numbers overall — 9.9 points and 2.8 rebounds per game playing about 19 minutes a night, and he shot a career-best 34 percent from three — but a closer look at his game left questions. He’s improved but is still not a strong defender. He puts up numbers because he thinks shot first, second, and third, and rarely passes the ball. Minnesota clearly wasn’t sold on him as part of the long-term future.
The Timberwolves renounced his rights this summer to clear the cap space to sign Taj Gibson. That seemed to spell the end of Muhammad in Minnesota....
But maybe not reports Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 and Chanel 5 in Minneapolis.
League buzz: #Twolves trying to convince Shabazz Muhammad to come back. They, of course, can only offer the minimum at this time. Hard task. pic.twitter.com/lbsFdEpQ2M
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) August 12, 2017
A year ago, in the free spending days of 2016, free agent Muhammad would have gotten a healthy contract near the league average ($8 million a year or so). This summer, the market has dried up, and Muhammad is still on the market.
He likely doesn’t want to return to Minnesota on a minimum deal, but what other offers are on the table? There has been interest from Orlando and other teams, but at this point in the summer there is not a lot of money left, just some teams with exceptions remaining and the others offering minimum deals. What other options does the swing man have.
He can afford to wait, the minimum deals will still be there closer to the start of training camps. But the wait for a much better offer may be fruitless.
