Minnesota Timberwolves: The Future Of Shabazz Muhammad
Trade rumors have surrounded the Minnesota Timberwolves recently, with Shabazz Muhammad being named among them. Is that an indication of where he fits within the team’s long-term plans?
While the future remains bright for the Minnesota Timberwolves, the present struggles to carry the same shine.
The arrival of head coach Tom Thibodeau as well as the promise of the team’s foundation, made up of Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine, brought on high expectations heading into the year. By and large, unfortunately, the team has failed to meet those expectations, standing 12 games under .500 with a 17-29 record.
Although the Timberwolves currently stand 3.5 games back of the eighth seed, their early season performance still looms over them as they hope to right the ship in the remaining months of the season.
No matter their performance this year, the long-term scope of the team obviously remains unchanged. The big discussion that has come out of that, however, is where certain players fit into the team’s long-term plans.
Chief among them has been long standing point guard Ricky Rubio as rumors regarding his availability ahead of the trade deadline have intensified in recent weeks. Attached to those trade rumors has been another player for the Timberwolves in Shabazz Muhammad, whose future with the team faces a similar uncertainty.
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Now in his fourth season, Muhammad’s development has faded into the background as the team’s core has emerged to the forefront, along with the arrival of rookie Kris Dunn.
That’s obviously with reason as he doesn’t carry the same upside as the team’s cornerstones, but at 24 years old, Muhammad still carries promise as a solid role player throughout his career.
Averaging 18.8 minutes per game this year, Muhammad is having a solid season coming off the bench, averaging career highs in true shooting percentage (56.6 percent) and three-point percentage (42.6 percent) on 8.4 points per game.
In addition to his efficiency, Muhammad ranks as one of the rare players for the Timberwolves to currently have a positive net rating (per NBA.com/stats), albeit a very minuscule one. With that being said, he obviously does have the benefit of primarily playing against an opposing team’s second unit.
Despite his modest success this season, though, questions have started to emerge over Muhammad’s future with the team.
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As mentioned before, Muhammad’s name has been linked to rumors regarding Rubio, reported from the likes of The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski and ESPN.com’s Marc Stein (although Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy has since squashed that specific swap).
Obviously there’s enough smoke here that one has to wonder where Muhammad’s future in Minnesota lies, whether it’s less than a month from now or beyond this season.
Muhammad was already facing a level of uncertainty over his future with the team as he’ll be a restricted free agent this coming offseason.
Considering his pedigree as a gunner, mircowave-type wing, Muhammad could emerge as a solid, but unglamorous option that teams could pursue for a respectable price in free agency this summer. Theoretically, you’d think the Timberwolves would be interested in retaining Muhammad, especially when you consider their options behind LaVine and Wiggins.
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Even if it comes at what has and will be a hectic few weeks before the deadline, Muhammad’s future in Minnesota has definite question marks. It’ll surely be one to keep an eye on, both over the trade deadline and if not then, this summer.