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Darren Wolfson, a Minnesota sports reporter, tweets Wednesday that the Nets are interested in the Timberwolves' 6'6" shooting guard, Shabazz Muhammad
By the way, heard the Nets and Lakers are two of the teams that like Shabazz. He has fans. But Milt is not moving him anytime soon. #twolves
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) December 9, 2015
"Milt" is Minnesota GM Milt Newton. In recent days, reports have emerged that the T-Wolves would like to move the 23-year-old because with all their recent acquistiions at the wing, he's become a victim of the numbers game. Just yesterday, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that while there is interest from various teams, the T-Wolves are not ready to move him.
Several teams intrigued with Shabazz Muhammad, but rival executives say that Minnesota -- deep at wings -- is unwilling to move him in deal.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) December 8, 2015
A league source confirmed that the Nets like Muhammad but getting from there to a deal might not be so easy. It's hard to imagine Minnesota not wanting draft picks from another team and the Nets don't have any they can trade until 2020.
Muhammad would fit into the Nets strategy of making up for lost draft picks by going for young, athletic players who haven't been able to find a fit on their previous teams. Shane Larkin and Thomas Robinson, age 23 and 24, also fit the definition. The UCLA product has only played one game of more than 25 minutes so far this season, a 26-minute stint on Monday when he scored 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
Last year, he played 38 games before going down with a finger ligament injury in February, ending his season. He had averaged 13.5 and 4.1 rebounds, shooting nearly 40 percent from deep. Muhammad makes $2.05 million in the third year of his rookie deal.