Wolves shut down Budinger, Muhammad for the season
Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman revealed Monday that the team will be shutting down Chase Budinger and Shabazz Muhammad for the season's remaining four games.
Budinger sprained his right ankle in the opening minute of Saturday's game against Orlando and had been considered questionable to play Tuesday. Coming off multiple surgeries on his left knee in the past 18 months, the team likely doesn't want Budinger to push a recovery with the season all but over.
The Arizona product will finish the season with 41 games played, having averaged career-lows of 6.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists, shooting a career-worst 39.4 percent. He simply wasn't able to find his groove once he returned, though he did average 11 points and 3.9 rebounds over the eight games before his injury.
Muhammad reportedly doesn't have anything structurally wrong, but he missed Saturday's game with a sore right knee. Shutting him down may indicate something more serious or could just be the team acting cautiously. (Update: the team has revealed that Muhammad has a right MCL sprain.)
This ends a fairly disappointing rookie campaign for the UCLA product, who was selected 14th overall in the 2013 draft but managed just 37 games and 290 total minutes on the year. He averaged 3.9 points and 1.4 rebounds, highlighted by an unexpected 20-point, six-rebound outburst on Feb. 25 against Phoenix.
Both players are under contract for the 2014-15 season.