SEPTEMBER 16: Muhammad’s new deal with the Wolves includes a second-year player option, tweets Keith Smith of RealGM.com. That option will be worth the minimum salary, so it’s likely to be declined, but it gives Muhammad some insurance in the event of a major injury or a poor showing in 2017/18.
Muhammad also got a 15% trade kicker on his contract, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.
SEPTEMBER 15: The Timberwolves have issued a press release formally announcing that Muhammad’s deal has been finalized.
SEPTEMBER 12: Veteran free agent Shabazz Muhammad is nearing a deal that will keep him in Minnesota, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Muhammad will receive a veterans minimum salary of $1.6MM, and his Bird rights will remain in place for a potentially longer contract next summer (Twitter link).
The 24-year-old swingman has spent his first four NBA seasons with the Timberwolves. He entered the offseason as a restricted free agent, but became unrestricted when the Wolves renounced his rights to free up cap room.
Muhammad remained a free agent for so long because he has been unwilling to accept a minimum deal, but that’s all Minnesota has left to offer. The Wolves spent big on free agents this summer, signing Taj Gibson and Jeff Teague and using their mid-level exception to acquire Jamal Crawford. Several teams reached out to Muhammad early in free agency, with the Hawks, Nets, Bucks and Knicks among the suitors.
Muhammad has developed into a reliable reserve for Minnesota over the past two seasons. He appeared in 78 games last year, starting just one, and averaged 9.9 points per night.
According to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter link), Muhammad turned down a higher offer from another team to return to the Wolves — that rival suitor may have been the Lakers, who were linked to the free agent swingman and have their full room exception available. Additionally, Muhammad’s new deal will give him the ability to veto trades during the 2017/18 season.
This is great news for the Wolves!
It Is.
Good depth. He gets better the less you need to rely on him.
The Wolves have improved so much while loosing so little this summer.
I agree
So how much does Shabazz count against the cap for Minnesota in the next 2 years? $1.47MM this year and $1.80MM next year if the option is exercised?
$1,577,230 this year and $1,795,015 next year (Wolves don’t get the reduced rate since it’s a two-year deal).
So the reduced rate only applies to one year deals? Didn’t know that. Thanks!
Yep, one-year deals, 10-days, and rest-of-season contracts, but not anything that’s more than one year.