The Wolves will go up against a familiar face tonight when they host the Phoenix Suns.
It’s not someone who broke scoring records or will have his jersey framed.
Hopes were high for wing Chase Budinger when he signed as a free agent with the Wolves in 2012 for a few reasons. First off, Budinger was a Rick Adelman guy in Houston. He fit perfect in his corner offense. Adelman, of course, was Minnesota’s coach.
Another reason was because Budinger showed that he wasn’t just an Adelman guy. In 2011-12 in Houston, Budinger averaged 9.6 points per game while shooting career-highs of 44.2 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from the 3-point line for a Kevin McHale-led team. And he was only 24.
It looked like a smart bet to pair Budinger with Ricky Rubio, Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic.
Of course now, we know why it didn’t work.
In early November in his first season, Budinger had surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. He played in just 23 games that season and averaged a career-low 6.7 points per game.
The next year, his knee was an issue again as he had surgery once again. He played in 41 games, but the hop that Budinger once had seemed to be gone. They say it can take one, sometimes even two, years to bounce back from knee surgery.
In his final season with the Wolves in 2014-15, Budinger played a little bit of everything with an injury-riddled team, scoring more than 10 points in 21 games, including back-to-back 20+ point games in March.
The Wolves ended up trading Budinger to the Indiana Pacers straight up for second-year forward Damjan Rudez. Budinger played in 49 games for the Pacers, playing 14.9 minutes per game while scoring 4.4 points per game. Budinger was waived by the Pacers on March 5 and signed with the Suns just three days later. In nine games with the Suns, Budinger is averaging 3.3 points in 11.9 minutes per game.
Budinger is set to be a free agent this offseason. The last three seasons haven’t been great for him, but he’s only 27 years old. He was effective last season when the Wolves played him at power forward in spurts, stretching out the defense, so that could be a thing to look for.
Hopefully Budinger can reform back to the player the Wolves brought in in 2012, or he can recreate himself to be an important piece for a team moving forward.
