The Minnesota Timberwolves have had one of the busiest offseasons out of any team in the NBA this summer. They added franchise-changing talent in forward Jimmy Butler and point guard Jeff Teague, making them one of the teams to watch in the Western Conference as they should climb up the standings now with their revamped roster.
While they added plenty of external pieces, the Wolves are still trying to keep some in-home talent in place as it was reported they were in talks with Andrew Wiggins on an extension. Wiggins isn’t the only young wing on the roster that they want to hold on to as ABC’s Darren Wolfson reports that they also hope to re-sign Shabazz Muhammad:
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
Keeping Shabazz Muhammad in Minnesota is something the franchise is hoping to do but it will be harder than it seems. As Wolfson pointed out, with all the cap space already committed, Muhammad would have to agree to stay with the Wolves on a minimum deal.
While Muhammad isn’t an elite talent by any means, the 24-year-old wing has proven to be more than serviceable off the bench and he still has plenty of potential that could be unlocked in the right situation. If the Wolves are able to lock up Muhammad, it would be a bargain as he is certainly worth more than the minimum in today’s market, especially when considering his long-term impact.
While adding stars like Butler is always nice, higher-end bench players are extremely vital when hoping to make a deep push into the playoffs just as the Wolves are hoping to do this upcoming campaign.
