Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Justin Patton hurt again, salary cap notes

The offseason is coming to a close for the Minnesota Timberwolves as players gather in Minneapolis for informal workouts. Unfortunately, not all the news is good news.

Minnesota Timberwolves training camp is coming.

First, media day, which takes place on Monday, Sep. 24. Then, a short training camp, followed by the preseason opener on that same Saturday all the way out in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors.

But before we even get to media day, there’s bad news on the injury front.

Second-year center Justin Patton, who missed training camp last year and much of the first part of the season due to foot surgery, has reportedly broken his other foot.

You may recall that Patton re-broke his left foot this spring and was apparently a bit ahead of schedule when it came to on-court activities. A few months ago, Tom Thibodeau stated that Patton would likely miss “most of the fall”, and the 7-footer was already participating in informal workouts and was planning to take part in training camp when it kicks off in just over a week.

It’s horrible news for a guy who has yet to really get a chance at the NBA level and who showed quite a bit of promise both at Creighton and in the G League with the Iowa Wolves in the latter half of his rookie year.

Here’s hoping that he doesn’t rush back and that he’s still able to get on the court in some capacity some time early in 2019.

It’s also a good time to mention where the Wolves stand from a salary cap perspective, courtesy of ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Minnesota has 13 guaranteed contracts (this does not account their two two-way contract slots) following the addition of Luol Deng, leaving one spot open. James Nunnally‘s deal only has a portion of it guaranteed, but he’s included in the 13.

If the Wolves fill the 14th spot with a guaranteed contract and keep Nunnally, they will enter the luxury tax. At this stage, it sure seems likely that the Wolves use the spot, although Thibdoeau did keep it open for much of last year in order to maintain roster flexibility.

We’ll keep an eye on the end of the bench for the Wolves as we’re now just over a week out from training camp. If they’re going to fill the spot it’s likely to be sooner rather than later.