Shabazz Muhammad Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Clippers Interested In Shabazz Muhammad

December 11th, 2015 at 12:12pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Clippers are among the teams fond of Shabazz Muhammad, though the Timberwolves remain entrenched against moving him, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Wolfson also identified the Lakers and Nets as teams fond of the swingman despite the lack of playing time he’s seen thus far in his NBA career. Muhammad has averaged 8.6 points in 15.9 minutes per game since becoming the last pick of the 2013 lottery.

Muhammad, 23, would give the aging Clippers a much-needed injection of youthful talent if they were somehow able to convince the Timberwolves to budge. C.J. Wilcox is the only Clippers player on a rookie scale contract. Muhammad is in year three of his rookie scale deal and eligible for an extension in the offseason.

Trade rumors have swirled around the Clippers of late, with the team reportedly having gauged interest in Lance Stephenson and Josh Smith last month and recently having done the same with Jamal Crawford, who was also a subject of chatter over the summer. Still, Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers denied that he’s had any talks about Stephenson and Smith, and after the offseason stories surrounding Crawford, Rivers said in September that he intended to hold on to the veteran swingman through the season.

Nets, Lakers Eye Shabazz Muhammad

December 9th, 2015 at 11:31am CST by Chuck Myron

The Nets and Lakers are among the several teams reportedly interested in Shabazz Muhammad, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities hears (Twitter link). Timberwolves GM Milt Newton nonetheless has no intention of dealing the former 14th overall pick anytime soon, Wolfson adds, which jibes with Tuesday’s report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, who wrote that the Wolves are unwilling to part with Muhammad despite the admiration he’s drawing from other front offices.

Brooklyn expects to be without Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for the next eight to 10 weeks, so it makes sense that the team would be looking at swingmen like Muhammad. Conflicting reports exist about whether the Nets have started gauging the interest that other teams have in trading for small forward Bojan Bogdanovic, a suggestion that Brooklyn was perhaps already anxious to make changes on the wing before the Hollis-Jefferson injury. GM Billy King told Sarah Kustok of the YES Network on Tuesday that the team would explore making roster moves but would give its current roster a chance “until we can find another option.”

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak accepts at least partial culpability for his team’s slow start and has called for a greater emphasis on player development. Muhammad, 23, would fit the mold of a growing team, though the Timberwolves have the aim of building around a young nucleus themselves. The retiring Kobe Bryant has been the starting small forward for the Lakers this season.

Muhammad, the top prospect in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index when he came out of high school in 2012, is making nearly $2.057MM on his rookie scale contract this season and has one more season to go on the pact, but he can negotiate a rookie scale extension this summer. He’s off to a slow start this season, seeing fewer minutes than he did in 2014/15 and shooting just 25.8% from behind the arc, compared to 39.2% last year.

How much do you think these teams should be willing to offer to try to see if they can pry Muhammad from the Timberwolves? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Several Teams Interested In Shabazz Muhammad

December 8th, 2015 at 5:07pm CST by Eddie Scarito

There are several NBA teams that have expressed interest in acquiring Timberwolves swingman Shabazz Muhammad, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports (via Twitter). It is unclear which franchises have checked in on Muhammad, though Wojnarowski’s sources inform him that Minnesota, despite having depth at the wing, is unwilling to trade the 23-year-old.

It’s understandable that the Wolves would be hesitant to deal away Muhammad, who is under contract through the 2016/17 campaign after the team exercised his fourth year option back in October. Young, controllable talent like Muhammad will likely be a valuable commodity in the league once the salary cap increases as expected in time for next season and player salaries jump along with that cap bump. Muhammad would be eligible to hit restricted free agency after the completion of the 2016/17 season, but Minnesota would have the right to match any offer sheet the forward were to sign, provided it submitted a qualifying offer to the player worth $4,237,401.

Muhammad’s NBA career didn’t begin to take off until his second season, when he averaged 13.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 22.8 minutes per game, though it should be noted that was over just 38 appearances, including 13 starts. He’s appeared in all 20 contests for the Wolves thus far this season, averaging 8.0 points and 2.6 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per night.

Timberwolves Rumors: LaVine, Rubio, Muhammad

November 17th, 2015 at 1:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

It’s no coincidence that the Timberwolves are giving Zach LaVine minutes at point guard after going back on their decision to make him the starting shooting guard, since Ricky Rubio would become a trade chip if LaVine proves capable running the point, writes Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. Rubio and LaVine have played just 10 minutes together so far this season, with Lowe calling it “beyond dumb” that they haven’t shared the floor for more time and Rubio making it clear he’d like to play more often with LaVine. Both Rubio and GM Milt Newton expressed to Lowe that they hope Rubio is the long-term answer at the point, “but he has to stay healthy,” Newton said. Regardless, Newton isn’t in a hurry to make any deals.

“We are cognizant about not rushing it,” Newton said to Lowe. “We don’t want to be a flash in the pan. We don’t want to disrupt our young core. If we do something, it has to be the kind of deal where the majority of that young core is still here, but you get a veteran who is not that old — and can grow with the group.”

See more on the Timberwolves:

LaVine has shown flashes of brilliance and moments of struggle alike at point guard this season, but his play is making it increasingly apparent that he deserves time at one position or another, as Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune examines. “I love him,” Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger said Sunday before Minnesota’s game against Memphis. “I’m a big LaVine fan. I think he can really score the basketball. He’s tough to guard. I think he’s still trying to figure out where he is in the league, learn his teammates, where he can go and when it’s not a good time to go. When he learns that? He’ll be a very potent scorer.”
Opposing front office personnel were initially dismissive of the late Flip Saunders‘ decision to sign so many veteran mentors this summer, but some of them have warmed to the notion that re-signing Kevin Garnett and adding Andre Miller and Tayshaun Prince was shrewd, Lowe writes in the same piece.
The Timberwolves almost chose Giannis Antetokounmpo over Shabazz Muhammad in the 2013 draft, several sources tell Lowe. The Jazz officially drafted Muhammad, but they had already agreed to trade the pick to Minnesota by the time they went on the clock, so evidently the Timberwolves were telling the Jazz whom to take, as is often the case behind the scenes with draft-night deals.
If Steve Kaplan, the Grizzlies minority owner who’s reportedly in talks to buy a share of the Timberwolves, were to purchase a controlling interest in the Wolves at some point, he’d probably include Garnett in the ownership group, Lowe hears from sources.
Sean Kilpatrick, who was with the Timberwolves on a 10-day contract this past spring, has re-signed with the D-League affiliate of the Sixers, the team with which he ended last season, the D-League club announced.

Wolves Exercise Options On Five Players

October 21st, 2015 at 4:00pm CST by Will Joseph

4:00pm: The Wolves have officially announced that they have picked up the options on the five players (Twitter link).

WEDNESDAY, 3:20pm: The Wolves have indeed picked up the options, as Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports hears (Twitter link), though the team has yet to make an official announcement.

SUNDAY, 1:26pm: The Wolves plan to exercise options on Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng and Adreian Payne early this week, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports (on Twitter).

The moves are largely expected and do not come as a surprise, as Krawczynski tweets. All the options are for the 2016/17 season and the deadline is November 2nd.

All five players are young and each have high ceilings. They each are also affordable. Wiggins’ option is for $6,006,600, LaVine’s is $$2,240,880, Muhammad’s is $3,046,299, Dieng’s is $2,348,783 and Payne’s is $2,022,240.

The options for Wiggins, LaVine and Payne are for the third years of their respective rookie scale contracts and the options for Muhammad and Dieng are for the fourth. We regarded Wiggins’ option as a slam dunk, Dieng’s option as highly likely and the other three as generally expected.

Western Notes: Rockets, Muhammad, Lakers

May 28th, 2015 at 10:37pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Now that the Rockets have been eliminated from the playoffs the franchise will begin working toward its offseason plans. Josh Smith, Jason Terry, and Corey Brewer, all of whom are set to become unrestricted free agents this summer, have indicated that they want to return to Houston next season, Jenny Dial Creech of The Houston Chronicle writes. “I like the future if we can keep all the pieces together,” Smith said. “I like what the future holds for us. You never know in free agency what may occur. The city of Houston and this team has definitely embraced me for my individuality and the way I play the game. It would be great to do something special for the city and for this team.”

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Wolves swingman Shabazz Muhammad has parted ways with agent Bill Duffy of BDA Sports Management and signed with Rob Pelinka of Landmark Sports, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports relays (Twitter link).
The Lakers held workouts earlier today for Justin Anderson, Askia Booker, Anthony Brown, Charles Jackson, Stefan Nastic, and Delon Wright, the team announced (via Twitter).
Arkansas forward Bobby Portis is scheduled to work out for the Thunder this Friday, Gary Washburn of Boston Globe tweets.
The Nuggets brought in Florida guard Michael Frazier for a workout today, Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops relays (Twitter link).
Center Andrew Bogut praised the Warriors‘ front office for keeping the core of the team intact and not going for a “home run” in the NBA draft, via trades, or through free agency, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee relays (on Twitter).

Shabazz Muhammad Done For The Season

February 21st, 2015 at 6:26pm CST by Arthur Hill

Minnesota’s Shabazz Muhammad will undergo season-ending finger surgery, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. An unidentified source told Wojnarowski that recovery will take about eight weeks.

Muhammad ruptured the middle finger on his shooting hand, tweets Andy Greder of The St. Paul Pioneer Press. His surgery has been scheduled for Monday. It will be performed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., according to a tweet from the Timberwolves.

Muhammad has been an improved player in his second season with Minnesota, averaging 13.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 38 games. A UCLA product, he was the 14th pick in the 2013 draft. He’s still on his rookie contract and is making a little over $1.9MM this year. He is under the Wolves’ control through the 2016/17 season.

The deadline to apply for a disabled player exception passed last month, so Minnesota can’t receive any extra salary flexibility to replace the second-year swingman. Muhammad was disappointing in his lone year at UCLA and as a rookie with the Wolves last season, but he’d just begun this season to again show some of the promise that had him tied with Nerlens Noel atop the Recruiting Services Consensus Index coming out of high school in 2012.

Flip Saunders On Wiggins, Muhammad, Dieng

January 23rd, 2015 at 6:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Flip Saunders, the Timberwolves’ president of basketball operations and coach, sat down for an interview with Britt Robson of MinnPost.com to discuss the state of the team and the progress of some of its younger players this season. The entire interview is worth a read, and here are some of the highlights…

On the development of rookie Andrew Wiggins:

“When we made the [Kevin Love] trade, there is no question that we switched somewhat, although we thought if we kept Ricky [Rubio] together with those guys we could be a blended team [of veterans and young players]. So based on where we were, and where everyone thought Wiggins was — coming out of college in Kansas people thought he was inconsistent and that you didn’t know what you were going to get out of him — I think over the last month or six weeks we are way ahead of where I thought we would be. Andrew wants to be good and will accept criticism. He has gotten to the point now where he knows when he is making a mistake. That is the difference between him and Zach LaVine at times. Zach still doesn’t know at times that he is making a mistake when he makes mistakes.

On which kind of role he envisions for Wiggins in the future:

“We want him to be like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Scottie Pippen. Because they are all two-way players. A lot of those guys were their team’s best offensive player but also their team’s best defensive player. And their tenacity, the team goes through it. Wiggins is in a much more difficult situation than what Kevin Garnett had here [as a younger player]. Because Garnett had some vets that were going to be there for awhile and really locked in and we just don’t have the same type of guys. So we never asked KG to carry us offensively [early in his career]. We have had to ask that of Wiggins. My biggest thing, the one thing KG could always do, he could always create shots at the end of games — that’s tough when you are a power forward. Wiggins will be able to create shots for himself or for somebody else and be able to do that off the bounce.”

On what other players have been bright spots this season:

“Shabazz Muhammad. There is no question that Muhammad — Wig probably misses him a little bit now, because with those two guys in there you are always creating some type of mismatch. There will have to be a smaller guy on one of them. But if you look at where Muhammad was at a year ago compared to where he is now, he is one of the top five guys [in the league] in terms of most-improved player. Then there is the development of Gorgui Dieng. He has proven he is a solid guy and one of the top young big players in the league. And Zach [LaVine] is a lot better now than he was the first week of the season and through training camp.”

On if the team would seek to bolster its guard positions:

“I’ll put it this way: If we can get backcourt help that is someone we feel could be in a long-term situation with us, we would do that.“

Western Notes: Kings, Wolves, Lakers

January 3rd, 2015 at 10:32am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Kings have quickly become a mess of a team since former coach Mike Malone was fired, Robert Windrem of Nets Daily writes. Sacramento’s problems include DeMarcus Cousins, who was reportedly upset with the dismissal of Malone, not playing up to par, especially on the defensive end, and the players finding out about Tyrone Corbin being signed as coach for the rest of the season from the media, which didn’t sit well with them at all, Windrem notes.

Here’s what else is happening around the Western Conference:

The Wolves‘ 2013 draft night trade of Trey Burke for Shabazz Muhammad is beginning to pay off thanks to Muhammad’s marked improvement this season, Andy Greder of The Pioneer Press writes. “We’re talking a guy that has been inserted into the starting lineup and is becoming a guy that is a major factor in what we are trying to accomplish,” president of basketball operations Flip Saunders said.
One of the Wolves‘ recent additions, Troy Daniels, is starting to pay dividends thanks to his deft outside touch, Kent Youngblood of The Star Tribune writes. “He is going to have opportunities,” Saunders said. “He brings something that we lack, perimeter shooting, the ability to stretch the floor a little bit.”
The main reason that the Lakers hired Byron Scott as their coach this past summer was because of his relationship with Kobe Bryant, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com writes. Few other coaches would be have been able to get Bryant to agree to skipping practices, taking games off, and the minutes restriction that Kobe is currently under, Markazi adds.

Western Notes: Nash, Wolves, Harris

December 31st, 2014 at 10:07pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Steve Nash has been away from the Lakers since being ruled out for the rest of the season, but the veteran finally paid the team a brief visit, Arash Markazi of ESPN.com writes. Nash greeted the team at the airport as they prepared to board a flight to Chicago, Markazi notes. “It was great to see him, first of all, and for all the players to see him,” coach Byron Scott said. “It was a great gesture on his part to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. He still has to deal with the fact that his career might be over. That’s still something he’s wrestling with. I’m still inviting him to come around here for practice and to join in and just be a part of the team and part the coaching staff. That’s something that he has to deal with and when he wants to and he feels he’s able to do that, whatever time that might be, he’ll be welcome with open arms.”

Here’s more out of the West:

The improved play this season of Gorgui Dieng and Shabazz Muhammad is making the 2013 trade of Trey Burke to Utah look like a great deal for the Wolves, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes.
Former Lakers guard Manny Harris has inked a deal to play in Turkey with Eskisehir Basket, the team announced via Twitter (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Harris was with Los Angeles on a pair of 10-day contracts during the 2013/14 campaign, and he spent parts of 2010/11 and 2011/12 with Cleveland.
With the Nuggets‘ season all but lost, it is now up to GM Tim Connelly to try and rebuild the franchise through trades, Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post opines. If the Nuggets want to tank for a chance at a higher draft pick, then Ty Lawson is the obvious player to trade, Kiszla notes. After Lawson, there isn’t another player on the roster who can consistently direct Denver’s already unreliable offense, and the result of dealing him could be a top five draft pick, Kiszla adds.