Minnesota Timberwolves Signing Kevin Martin and Chase Budinger

The T-Wolves will spend $43 million on free agents Kevin Martin and Chase Budinger. Martin agreed to a four-year, $28 million deal, while Budinger will ink a contract worth $16 million over three seasons. Per the Star Tribune: “In doing so, they reunited two former Houston teammates with each other and Martin with Wolves coach Rick Adelman, who now once again will coach one of the game’s most efficient scorers but this time in their third city together. They also in two fell swoops addressed their needs to boost the league’s worst three-point shooting team and helped balance their roster, even if, with Andrei Kirilenko opting out last weekend, they probably did so for now at the expense of their defense. According to league sources familiar with negotiations, the Wolves reached terms with Budinger on a three-year, $15 million contract early Tuesday afternoon, then agreed with Martin on a four-year, almost $28 million contract. They reached the deal with Martin after targeted shooting guard J.J. Redick accepted a sign-and-trade deal that sent him from Milwaukee to the Los Angeles Clippers in a three-way trade that also included Phoenix. The Wolves still must reach terms with restricted free-agent center Nikola Pekovic, but that probably won’t come until after Dwight Howard chooses his new home. Nine years after he first played for Adelman, Martin, 30, is back with the coach who welcomed him to the NBA in Sacramento as an unsung rookie out of Western Carolina. ‘He raised me well in this league from Day 1,’ Martin said from his home in Zanesville, Ohio. ‘He developed me into a pretty good player. I respect what he’s done with my career.’ […] Budinger planned to break out with his mom and dad a fine bottle of champagne he saved these last few months just for this occasion, the first big payday of his career. ‘It’s not about the money,’ said Budinger, a former second-round pick who made $942,000 last season in the final year of his original rookie contract. ‘It’s about the right situation and the people you’re around. Money is just a bonus. Everybody knows how much I loved playing for Rick Adelman, how well I fit into his system, how much I like playing with these guys. The NBA is a business so I had to look at the money aspect. But in my heart, it was always Minnesota.’ Budinger said he turned down more money to return to the Wolves. His new contract gives him an option to become a free agent after the second season.”