Shabazz Muhammad was once the top high school recruit in the nation. A series of predictions for the Minnesota Timberwolves has the forward choosing LA once again.
When Shabazz Muhammad had the national spotlight focused on him for his college choice, he did not choose Duke or Kentucky, he chose UCLA.
Now, Muhammad is now in Minnesota, former home of the Los Angeles Lakers franhise. As the Minnesota Timberwolves mull its options for the future, they foresee Muhammad taking a similar path to the West Coast.
Dunking with Wolves, a blog that covers Minnesota's NBA team, has made predictions for the team. Obviously, they are rebuilding and starting to form a young core-one of the coveted assets of the league.
However, the realities of the salary cap make it difficult for a team to retain all of its young players as they progress (think OKC Thunder with James Harden) and the T-Wolves will have to face a similar problem in two years.
"Shabazz has two years left on his deal before he enters restricted free agency in the summer of 2017. Shabazz will be a player looking to score big money in the summer of 2017," the article stated. "Also, Shabazz strikes me as a player who could be overpaid. You see it during every free agency period, and he could be the one that gets the undeserved money in 2017. A Los Angeles team will overpay him and start him."
They point out that "you can't pay everyone"and it might boil down to Muhammad and Zach Lavine, a fellow UCLA Bruin. Push comes to shove, the Wolves would prefer Lavine at the two, while Andrew Wiggins takes the three spot.
Why the Lakers? If Muhammad had a choice, he'll probably go with his favorite team as he states in the video from NBA.com.