Report: Minnesota Timberwolves Finalizing Release of Brandon Roy

Last summer the Minnesota Timberwolves gave veteran guard Brandon Roy one more chance to prove himself in his career. Roy had been plagued by knee injuries while in Portland with the Trailblazers and it ultimately led to his premature retirement. Despite trying to breath new life into his career by coming back with the Wolves, it appears Roy’s career if effectively over as Minnesota is finalizing his release.

Per Yahoo! Sports NBA guru Adrian Wojnarowski, Minnesota will be saving just over $5 million by cutting Roy loose, and it’s expected that this move will end Roy’s career in the NBA has his knees have proven they can’t hold up long enough for him to be effective.

The move comes in the first weeks of Flip Saunders’ reign in the Wolves front office. Saunders came in and replaced David Kahn as the Timberwolves president of basketball operations and the release of Roy marks the first major move of what Wolves fans are hoping end up being numerous dealings to make the team as competitive as it should be.

Despite the hate for Kahn and the fact that he’s the one solely responsible for bringing Roy in to essentially sit on the bench, there was language in Roy’s contract that allowed the Wolves to back out of the contract if the veteran’s knees ended up being a detriment to his playing status with Minnesota.

This release marks the sad and premature end to a career that held so much promise. Roy has the weak knees of an old man but he’s only 28 years of age and could have had a long career had his knees held up. But that never happened and Roy’s career in the NBA seems to be at an end, as after the debacle in Minnesota it’s hard to believe anyone will want to bring Roy in and even Roy himself is likely to admit this is the end.