In another Minnesota Timberwolves news, reports say that the team has declined the third-year option for young center Justin Patton. Patton has been riddled with injuries since being drafted in 2017 and has only played one game for the Wolves.
Shams Charania of The Athletic tweeted out this development from the Wolves' camp.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are declining center Justin Patton’s third-year team option, league sources tell me and @JonKrawczynski.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 31, 2018
Patton, 21, was the 16th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. The seven-foot big man out of Creighton was deemed by many as a modern center who is capable of having a solid inside-out game. It appears as though, however, the Timberwolves are already giving up on him.
Patton underwent surgery on his left foot last year, forcing him to miss a huge chunk of his rookie season. After recuperating from that surgery, he then had the same injury on his right foot before the season started this year. He went through another surgery in New York and has been penned as indefinitely out by the Wolves.
The Creighton product played for the Iowa Wolves last season, the Wolves' affiliate in the G League. It was more of a rehabilitation rather than a demotion for Patton as he normed averages of 12.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks.
With the Wolves looking to deal Gorgui Dieng and his lucrative contract to an interested team, Patton could have been seeing minutes for the team had he not sustained another injury.
Patton's mobility and versatility on both ends of the floor are vital for big men nowadays. His 53% clip from beyond the arc when he played for Creighton is one of his selling points leading up to the 2017 draft.
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