Report: Shabazz Muhammad to Sign with Bucks After Clearing Waivers

Shabazz Muhammad plans to sign with the Milwaukee Bucks when he clears waivers, The Vertical's Shams Charania reported Thursday.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Muhammad agreed to a contract buyout with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Wojnarowski wrote the 25-year-old swingman was looking to sign with a playoff contender.

The Bucks sit seventh in the Eastern Conference with a 33-28 record and are 2.5 games back of the Washington Wizards for the fourth seed.

According to Wojnarowski, Milwaukee will waive Sean Kilpatrick to free up a roster spot for Muhammad.

Perhaps Muhammad simply needs a change of scenery after five mostly underwhelming seasons in Minnesota, but he struggled mightily during his Timberwolves tenure.

Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey highlighted one metric in which Muhammad is one of the worst in the NBA:

"

Shabazz Muhammad has been in the NBA for 5 years. Among the 263 with at least as many minutes over the last 5 years, Muhammad ranks 263rd in Box Plus-Minus.

He's 855th out of the 856 players who've logged at least one minute in the last 5 years in Wins Over Replacement Player. https://t.co/4Vs3T6nuBs

— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) March 2, 2018"

The Timberwolves had a minus-20.5 net rating in the 301 minutes when Muhammad was on the court this season, according to NBA.com. Last year, when he was a more regular member of the rotation, Minnesota still had a minus-1.5 net rating with Muhammad playing. He has never finished a season with a defensive rating lower than 106.8.

Muhammad is averaging 26.1 points per 100 possessions over his career, per Basketball Reference, but his inability to stretch the floor—31.7 percent shooter from three-point range—has limited his offensive ceiling.

Muhammad will give Bucks head coach Joe Prunty with another option at small forward behind Khris Middleton who can occasionally score points in bunches. Beyond that, Milwaukee may be overly optimistic if it envisions him providing much help to get the team higher in the standings.