HoopsHype.com Rumors

Kahn hopes to re-sign center Nikola Pekovic and forward Chase Budinger, both of whom become free agents on July 1, and persuade Andrei Kirilenko to return for the second year of his two-year contract. St. Paul Pioneer Press

Minnesota Timberwolves, Free Agency, Nikola Pekovic, Andrei Kirilenko, Chase Budinger 

Kirilenko is part of that core group. It’s his choice this summer whether to accept a $10 million salary from the Wolves next season or become a free agent able to negotiate perhaps a three- or four-year contract — probably the last big one of his career — with another team, including the Wolves. He said his family’s wishes will weigh heavily, and his children like Minnesota. So, too, of course, will Adelman’s decision for a franchise that will have to start all over again if he chooses to retire. “This is the key moment for me,” Kirilenko said. “He is the reason I’m here in the first place. We’ll see. Let’s wait for the summertime.” Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves, Free Agency, Andrei Kirilenko 

“It’s a very high option, so he has to think about it twice before he walks away,” Taylor said. “I can’t do any better money than that was. I don’t know for what reasons he’d walk away. [An extension] gets a little complicated because of Pek’s and Ricky’s [Rubio] contracts.” Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves, Free Agency, Andrei Kirilenko 

Jon Krawczynski: Pek and Kirlienko will not play the rest of the week. Will be re-evaluated on Monday. Twitter

Minnesota Timberwolves, Nikola Pekovic, Andrei Kirilenko, Injuries 

The way his season is going -- very much like his last couple of NBA seasons -- Timberwolves forward Andrei Kirilenko sounds ready to adopt a custom from the old country if it'll keep him healthy. Kirilenko's strained calf sustained early in Tuesday's 84-83 overtime loss at Phoenix follows back spasms and a strained quad that caused him to miss more than a week each time earlier this season. He will not play in Thursday night's TNT game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center and made no predictions about when he might be back, like he correctly did with his first two injures. "So frustrating when you got something like this again," he said. "Somebody cursed us. Too many people missing games, like something wrong. If we would be in Russia, we go to church and put out the candles. I hope it would be that easy." Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko, Injuries 

Now that the NBA trade deadline has come and gone, Timberwolves forward Andrei Kirilenko knows, as if there were any question, he'll be here for the rest of the season. After that, he has until to July 1 to opt out of the final season of the two-year, $20 million contract he signed last summer. He has 10 million reasons to stay, but said Friday he's keeping an open mind. "I'm going to wait until the off-season," he said. "Right now there's no point to make any decision." Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves, Free Agency, Andrei Kirilenko 

That two-year, $20 million contract he signed with the Wolves last summer has a player’s option next season. Of course, that would mean walking away from $10 million guaranteed in a summer when the NBA is heading into Year 3 of a tightening luxury-tax situation, but… “I’m going to wait until the offseason, right now there’s no point to make any decision,” he said. “Wait until summer, analyze the season, and see what you want to do next. Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko 

“When I signed the contract with agent, we wanted to have all kinds of options,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was stepping into when I start the season. I heard a lot of good stuff, but you’re always a little bit worried how it’s going to go. So far, it’s going great. I like Rick’s system. We have a lot of injuries. The result is a little bit not what you expect, but we’re working on it. “So far, I like everything here except the results. We need to try to fix it. In the summertime, I will sit with my agent, my family and look at it.” Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko 

And on stepping away from the Russian national team after leading it to an Olympic bronze medal last summer in London… “It’s not connected to playing time, I’m not tired, I’m not tired of playing for the national team,” he said. “I want to be a better dad. I want to be with my family a little more. I think I already give a lot, play 12 years on the national team. There is time.” Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko, Russia 

He said he has thought about this decision for the last two, three years but got serious about making it after the Olympics. “I was thinking in summertime I don’t have enough time with my kids,” he said. “My wife and kids, I want to be around them. I don’t want to be dad who’s spending two hours and then you don’t see your kids. It’s a hard decision. “It’s kind of a dilemma: Going around the globe, playing basketball, have fun or spend your time with your kids and have fun and see how they’re growing. You want to be around them at this kind of age when they’re growing, they start playing hockey, start playing basketball. You want to see the improvement, not only in sports but the person. Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko, Russia 

Jeff Taylor: Russia's Andrei Kirilenko retires from national team to have more time with family in summers. Twitter

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko, Russia 

The player the Wolves have gotten the most calls about is forward Andrei Kirilenko, but barring a too-good-to-be true offer, he's not going anywhere. 1500 ESPN

Minnesota Timberwolves, Trade, Andrei Kirilenko 

You had qiote the competition to face, as Gasol brothers, Vasilis Spanoulis, Tony Parker, Goran Dragic, Danilo Gallinari, Marcin Gortat, Omer Asik and your teammate Nikola Pekovic were all in the race for the award. Do you think the decision was fair? Andrei Kirilenko: I have said it many times: determining the best invidividual in a team sport, where thousands of players compete on the highest level, is not easy. How can one compare me to Pau Gasol? Or to Parker, Nowitzki and Spanoulis? All this is very subjective. However I won't hide the fact that I'm flattered. Moreso by the fact that I was elected by both fans and experts. TalkBasket

Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Andrei Kirilenko 

Andrei Kirilenko has been named as FIBA Europe Men's Player of the Year for the second time in his career Andrei Kirilenko has been voted as FIBA Europe Men's Player of the Year 2012, reclaiming the award he previously won back in 2007. Whilst most NBA players became frustrated during the lockout that kept them of the courts at the end of 2011, other players found that it worked in their favour. One player falling into the latter category was Kirilenko, who thrived on the opportunity to return to his native Russia and play for CSKA Moscow. Sportando

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko 

BallinEurope would really appreciate it if a native speaker of Japanese could translate the below piece on Nikola Pekovic and the Minnesota Timberwolves which recently ran in the periodical Dunk Shot – but it’s already a great big hunk of awesome. Check out the manga versions of Peks, sharp-angled Andrei Kirilenko, Alexey “Tiny” Shved and the doe-eyed Ricky Rubio (What? No Mickael Gelabale?) doing some kind of super task forcey thing and … is that Bill Walton there in panel four? Ball In Europe

Minnesota Timberwolves, Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic, Andrei Kirilenko, Bill Walton 

Working things out is what Kirilenko did last season, while playing in Russia. He was one of the guys who didn't want to wait around for the end of the lockout and have to play a jam-packed schedule in a tight window. Instead of back-to-back-to-backs and five games in six nights, Kirilenko opted for the much more relaxed European schedule. "I had a great opportunity to play in front of Russian fans, in front of my family and friends," Kirilenko said. "I used it for preparations for the Olympics." In London, he often reflected on his year at home with the joy a 28-year-old might feel with a year back in college – minus the school work. "It worked out," he said. "I knew I would get back to the NBA." USA Today Sports

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko 

However, the eleven year NBA veteran says he’s absolutely certain he won’t be exercising the player option at season’s end and is intending on remaining in Minnesota. “I’m going to stay in the NBA for sure,” Kirilenko told HOOPSWORLD. “There is no doubt about it. I like Minnesota and I like [head coach] Rick Adelman.” “But we really need to get everyone back in the lineup,” Kirilenko added while admitting his frustration with Minnesota’s assortment of injuries this season. “It’s hard to play this way.” HoopsWorld

Minnesota Timberwolves, Free Agency, Andrei Kirilenko 

There's been no talk between the two sides about what Wolves forward Andrei Kirilenko is thinking with a $10.2 million player option for next year. 1500 ESPN

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko 

The versatile, 6-foot-9 forward was always going to figure in as a major piece to the rotation, but he’s been invaluable in the wake of long-term injuries to forwards Chase Budinger and Kevin Love, among multiple other injuries such as to Brandon Roy and Malcolm Lee that have thrust the surprising Shved into a starter’s role at shooting guard. “We had some seasons when we had a lot of injuries, but this is something crazy,” said Kirilenko, whose scoring (13.4 ppg), rebounds (6.8) and minutes (34.8) are all his best since the 2005-06, and his 50.8 shooting percentage ranks as a career high. “We never played together [with a full roster] for even one game. It’s tough to play that way, but I guess this is the reality of NBA basketball.” NBA.com

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko, Alexey Shved 

And who knows, perhaps soon Shved will serve a similar role to another wide-eyed countryman that makes his way to the NBA. “Sergey Karasev might be the next [one],” Kirilenko said of the 6-foot-7, 19-year-old shooting guard who averages 18.7 points and 6.3 rebounds for Triumph Lyubertsy in the Russian Professional Basketball League. “He might be joining us soon.” NBA.com

Minnesota Timberwolves, Andrei Kirilenko, Alexey Shved, Sergey Karasev