The Minnesota Timberwolves are interested in Shabazz Muhammad returning for the 2017-18 season.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been on a mission to fill their bench after signing some big-name players this offseason like Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson and Jamal Crawford. They still need a couple more players for the upcoming season. The only problem is that they can only sign players to minimum contracts from here on out.
The best player they have a chance to land is much closer than they think. Shabazz Muhammad is one of the best free agents available at this point in the offseason. Muhammad was the key contributor for the Wolves off the bench last season, averaging 9.9 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He isn’t the pure shooter that everyone thinks the Wolves need, but is an excellent scorer nonetheless.
Lang Whitaker of NBA.com has Shabazz Muhammad as the best small forward available, ahead of Matt Barnes. Whitaker said the following about Muhammad:
"“Just a few years ago, Muhammad was one of the top prospects coming out of high school, and showed enough promise in one year at UCLA to be drafted 14th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft.But Muhammad never really found his break-out role in Minnesota.“However, that may be a reflection of the constant organizational changes as much as anything (Muhammad played for four different coaches in his four seasons with Wolves). The durable swingman shot just 33.8 percent on 3-pointers and tallied just 35 assist in 1,516 minutes last season. Still, at just 24 years old, Muhammad would seem to still have room to grow.”"
He made a good point of Muhammad’s age. He’s had a successful career already, all things considered, and he still has a lot of time to put it all together. That may also be the reason he holds out for a larger contract than what the Timberwolves are able to offer.
Can the Wolves re-sign Muhammad?
If Muhammad is interested in a return, the interest is there from the Timberwolves, as reported by Darren Wolfson of 1500ESPN.
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
It will basically come down to luck for the Minnesota Timberwolves. As Wolfson stated, it will be a hard task to convince a player like Muhammad to sign a minimum contract. If other teams let him slip back into the Timberwolves’ hands, that’s huge win for Minnesota.
Newly signed small forward Jamal Crawford is actually taking the recruiting of Muhammad into his own hands. He sent him the following tweet on Aug. 16 that Muhammad replied to.
https://twitter.com/ShabazzMuhammad/status/898035268632158208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.canishoopus.com%2F2017%2F8%2F17%2F16164064%2Fjamal-crawford-recruits-shabazz-muhammad-to-stay-in-minnesota-timberwolves
He could have simply ignored the tweet. This confirms my thoughts on the situation: Muhammad is looking to return as a possibility, but obviously isn’t in any rush to sign a minimum contract.
Who else is available for the Minnesota Timberwolves?
Outside of Muhammad, Tony Allen has been a popular potential addition to the 2017-18 roster. Allen would bring that defensive mindset that head coach Tom Thibodeau loves. Allen has made the All-Defensive team six times, with three of those being First Team appearances. Shooting isn’t his forte, but Allen managed to average 9.1 points a game last season.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are a new contender on the rise to compete with the Golden State Warriors after this offseason. That gives them an advantage to get a guy like Muhammad or Allen for a minimum contract.
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Shabazz Muhammad has two options at the end of the day. The first is he plays for a losing team for more money. The second option is that he can re-sign with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the minimum and help them get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2004.