Milwaukee Bucks to sign Shabazz Muhammad, waive Sean Kilpatrick

According to reports, the Milwaukee Bucks have reportedly committed to signing fifth-year swingman Shabazz Muhammad once he clears waivers.

For those fans of the Milwaukee Bucks wanting a roster upgrade before tonight’s buyout deadline, you’re in luck. However, it involves a player that hasn’t been on the minds of many fans, if any at all.

First reported by Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, the Bucks have committed to signing now-former Minnesota Timberwolves forward Shabazz Muhammad once he clears waivers after being officially bought out by the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier Thursday night.

That was confirmed by both Michael Scotto and Jon Krawcynzki of The Athletic as well as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Matt Velazquez moments later.

The 14th overall pick of the 2013 NBA Draft (one pick ahead of Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, by the way), Muhammad displayed that he can certainly light a spark off the bench on his best nights as he showed during his first couple of years in Minnesota and the league in general.

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However, Muhammad’s once promising NBA career has faded fast over the last couple of seasons, especially with the arrival of Tom Thibodeau. This season alone, Muhammad has only seen 301 total minutes across 32 total appearances with the Timberwolves.

For those reasons, Muhammad not carving out a role on a playoff team like the Wolves reportedly drove his desire to find a better situation, one that included getting regular playing time.

With that said, Muhammad is certainly not above blame for why his career has taken a gradual sharp turn for the worse. Muhammad reportedly bet hard on himself and his chances in free agency, especially after seeing the spending frenzy that was the summer of 2016 as Zach Harper of Fan Rag Sports detailed here a few months ago in an extensive piece on the Timberwolves:

"“He turned down a four-year, $40 million extension before the 2016-17 season. Sources say Muhammad believed a strong year plus a crazy flow of free-agency money would lead to him commanding as much as $20 million per season in his next deal. But severely misreading the market led to Muhammad deciding between trying to join the Los Angeles Lakers on a one-year deal or coming back to the Wolves. He decided to return to Minnesota for another go.”"

As Charania noted in a follow up tweet, the Bucks have held an interest in Muhammad in the past, specifically last summer when he was in the midst of his restricted free agency as we wrote about at the time, which was first reported by Marc Spears of The Undefeated.

Of course, you may be wondering who the Bucks will be parting ways with, considering their roster currently stands at 15 players, plus their two-way player slots being filled by both Xavier Munford and Marshall Plumlee.

As it turns out, the Bucks will reportedly be waiving guard Sean Kilpatrick in favor of Muhammad as first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and confirmed by Velazquez shortly thereafter.

As Wojnarowski followed up, the move to release Kilpatrick will be done before the buyout deadline to keep him playoff eligible, should he latch on elsewhere in what’s been a season full of change for the 28-year-old.

In 23 appearances with the Bucks this year, Kilpatrick averaged 4 points on 37.8 percent shooting from the field and 28.3 percent shooting from three in 8.9 minutes per game.

Putting aside what he did on the court for a moment while in Milwaukee, Kilpatrick’s biggest highlight as a Buck may have came on the interwebs with a tweet that probably had nothing to do with former head coach Jason Kidd getting fired, but there’s not much fun in thinking that, is there?

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So with all that said, we wish all the luck to Sean Kilpatrick and where he lands next as well as welcome Shabazz Muhammad to Milwaukee!