Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley spoke in more detail this week about the left wrist injury he has dealt with for the last few years, admitting that it prevented him from golfing over the summer after he fell on the wrist last season and aggravated an old ligament issue, per Jerry Zgoda of The Minneapolis Star Tribune. Still, Conley has gotten used to playing through the injury and plans to continue doing so.
“When I’m 50, I’ll get surgery, not right now,” he said. “The surgery is a little bit complex and I’ve been playing with it for years, so I feel like I’ll just finish it.”
Entering Friday’s bout with Denver, Conley was shooting just 22.6% from the field through Minnesota’s first four games this season, including 27.3% on three-pointers. While the wrist issue may be a factor in the veteran’s shooting struggles, the sample size is small and he’s confident those numbers will improve once he gets through an early-season adjustment period.
“I’m just trying to work back the strength of it,” Conley said. “That’s the biggest thing. The pain and stuff is gone. But there are some times when I’ll shoot it and think, ‘Ah, that’s good,’ and it’ll be like two feet short. So you’re just trying to gauge the differences and work through that as the season goes forward.”
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Nuggets guard Jamal Murray exited Friday’s loss to Minnesota in the third quarter and entered the NBA’s concussion protocol, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN. The injury occurred following an inadvertent collision with Timberwolves forward Julius Randle (Twitter video link). Murray, who is off to a somewhat slow start this season, had just six points on 2-of-7 shooting in his 22 minutes on Friday.
- The Nuggets have lost three of their first five games and required an overtime period to get their two wins against a pair of Eastern teams (Toronto and Brooklyn) coming off lottery seasons. Still, one silver lining has been the play of Christian Braun in his new starting role — the Nuggets are “very pleased” with what they’ve seen from him this fall, writes ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. Braun was a team-high plus-13 in Friday’s loss and has scored double-digit points with a positive net rating in each of Denver’s five games so far. The third-year wing will be eligible for a rookie scale extension next offseason.
- Rayan Rupert doesn’t have a significant role for the Trail Blazers this season, but the second-year forward is making the most of his limited playing time and making a case for more minutes. As Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian (subscription required) writes, Rupert was a plus-12 in 19 total minutes on Monday and Wednesday and earned praise from head coach Chauncey Billups for his impact in Wednesday’s one-point victory. “Rupe’s minutes were amazing,” Billups said. “I was just so, so happy for him, given that he works his behind off. We really celebrated Rupes in the locker room.”
- Malevy Leons‘ new contract with the Thunder is a non-guaranteed one-year deal worth the prorated rookie minimum, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Leons has a cap hit of $1,097,300, though a portion of that money would come off Oklahoma City’s books if he’s cut before the league-wide salary guarantee deadline in January. That’s what happened to Alex Reese, whose release left $79,804 in dead money on the Thunder’s cap.
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