NBA Trade Rumors: Shabazz Muhammad Want the Minnesota Timberwolves to Move Him
It appears Shabazz Muhammad is ready to move on from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Muhammad has reportedly asked the Timberwolves to move or waive him before the trade deadline on Thursday.
"Muhammad's representatives recently made the request to the Timberwolves front office, league sources said," Wojnarowski said.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The fifth-year forward had just signed a two-year, $3.3 million contract with the Timberwolves last summer with a player option for the second year. However, he has only played sparingly this season, and he has fallen completely out of the rotation lately.
"He had a belief that keeping his Bird Rights with the franchise would pay off in free agency in the summer of 2018, if he indeed declined the player option on next year's $1.8 million salary and become an unrestricted free agent," Wojnarowski said in his report.
"Now, it appears that Muhammad is completely out of the franchise's plans, all but eliminating the Timberwolves as a possibility to re-sign him in July," he added.
Muhammad's decision to re-sign with the Timberwolves actually caught many by surprise because Minnesota had already signed Jamal Crawford in the summer, and he was expected to get most of the minutes behind starters Jimmy Butler and Andrew Wiggins.
Besides, Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau already had a reputation for playing his core players heavy minutes, so Muhammad should have known beforehand that he probably was not going to see much game action this season.
In any case, Muhammad has every right to be upset if Thibodeau had promised him significant minutes before he re-signed with the Timberwolves last summer.
Muhammad is only averaging 3.7 points and 1.5 rebounds in under 10 minutes per game this season. He is shooting 38.5 percent from the field, 21.1 percent from beyond the arc, and 71 percent from the free-throw line.
