1:06pm: The team has formally announced the signing, via Twitter. It covers the rest of this season, according to the team, but there’s no mention of it extending into 2014/15.
11:17am: The signing should take place this afternoon, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune.
8:45am: The Timberwolves are close to signing Othyus Jeffers, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The 28-year-old has been playing with Minnesota’s shared D-League affiliate, the Iowa Energy. The Wolves appear set to bring aboard the shooting guard to fill the roster spot vacated when the team waived A.J. Price last week. Stein refers to the pending arrangement as a 10-day deal, though it would be tantamount to a signing for the rest of the 2013/14, since there are fewer than 10 days remaining in the regular season.
Jeffers was with Minnesota for the preseason before the team cut him prior to opening night. He had a brief stint with the Spurs on a 10-day contract in late January, appearing in four games and scoring seven points in a total of 34 minutes before San Antonio terminated his deal a couple of days early to bring in Shannon Brown. The 6’5″ rebounding ace has spent the lion’s share of his time this season with Iowa of the D-League, scoring 20.9 points and grabbing 9.9 boards in 37.6 minutes per game.
The timing of the Wolves’ move to waive Price was odd, and it was reportedly unrelated to the legal troubles of forward Dante Cunningham. I speculated at the time of the move that the Wolves had their eyes on a young prospect they would sign to a multiyear deal, but given Stein’s assertion that it’ll be just a short-term contract for Jeffers, it seems Minnesota is instead merely plugging gaps on its roster. Chase Budinger and Shabazz Muhammad will likely miss the final six games of the season, perhaps necessitating the addition of another healthy body.
They missed out on a potential offseason trade chip there. All they had to do was word the contract different and tack on an extra non-guaranteed year.