Tonight marks the 12th time the Wolves will go up against Jon Leuer.
It isn’t exactly a huge marketing ploy for the Suns in Phoenix (it would be weird if it was).
But if you’re a Minnesota basketball fan, you probably know that Leuer was born in Long Lake, Minnesota and attended Orono High School.
Leuer was then stolen from Minnesota and played for the Wisconsin Badgers from 2007-2011. During his senior year, Leuer averaged 18.3 points and 7.2 rebounds on his way to All-Big Ten First Team honors. Leuer has bounced around the league since then. He was drafted 40th overall by the Bucks in 2011 and has played for the Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Memphis Grizzlies and Suns since then – with two stops to the D-League in 2011 and 2012-13, respectively.
Despite being part of three trades in just five seasons, Leuer is better than you think. The 6-10 power forward/center is averaging a caree-high 8.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game while shooting 47.8 percent from the field and a very respectable 37.8 percent from the 3-point line on 1.8 attempts per game.
With the Suns ranking 14th in the West and the Wolves at 13th, this isn’t a matchup of playoff hopefuls. But there are some interesting storylines. Can the Wolves win back-to-back road games against a team they should probably beat? Will Karl-Anthony Towns have a career game? And then there is Leuer who is “one of us.” On March 10, Leuer scored 19 points while shooting 8-for-10 from the field. You can bet he’ll want to do similar damage against his hometown team.
Tipoff is set for 9 tonight on Fox Sports North and WCCO 830-AM.
