National Basketball Association

Wolves forced to sign guy just for being nearby, still manage to beat Knicks

Published Mar. 19, 2015 10:23 p.m. ET

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It's fitting that a matchup of the two lowliest teams in this NBA season went exactly this way.

The injury-depleted Minnesota Timberwolves were so desperate for bodies Thursday that they signed a player based on how quickly he could get to the game.

Minnesota signed guard Sean Kilpatrick to a 10-day contract, and he arrived at Madison Square Garden in time to give them the league-mandated eight players in uniform for their game against the New York Knicks in the battle to decide the official worst team in all the land. Both teams entered the game with matching 14-53 records, worst in the league.

Listing eight players on their injured list, the Wolves didn't just need a player. They needed one who wouldn't take long to get to the arena.

''We had to fulfill our rules, so we had to go find somebody that was within a train ride away,'' Wolves coach Flip Saunders said.

Kilpatrick actually drove, arriving in the Wolves' locker room about 45 minutes before the start. He quickly introduced himself to guard Ricky Rubio, who joined the injured ranks Thursday with a sore right ankle.

''We had him in before so we worked him out, so we knew about him and we've been following him, but there's no question that geography helped,'' Saunders said. ''We had to have a guy here ready to play at 7:30.''

And what a fruitful transaction it turned out to be. Despite the manpower problems, the Timberwolves managed to beat the Knicks, 95-92 in overtime. Kilpatrick played 10 minutes, was 0-1 from the field and managed to grab a rebound. Good enough!

Here's a look at Kilpatrick in action:

And @SeanKilpatrick_ now getting a ton of love on MSG. What a moment for the former White Plains star! Congrats man pic.twitter.com/aDY6Edo57X
— Jordan Griffith (@MSGV_JGriffith) March 20, 2015

The Wolves were already without Kevin Garnett, Nikola Pekovic, Anthony Bennett, Shabazz Muhammad, Gary Neal, Justin Hamilton and Robbie Hummel. Because of the injuries, they were granted an NBA hardship exception for a 16th roster spot.

They couldn't use it on a player from the Knicks' D-League team in nearby Westchester County, which would have been easiest, because those players were en route to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for a game Friday.

Kilpatrick, the former University of Cincinnati star whose family is from New York, was close enough.

All quips about the lousy state of the Wolves and Knicks aside, what a great moment for Kilpatrick to get some NBA minutes. On Twitter, Kilpatrick gave us an idea what it meant to him to get the chance:

Good luck to you, Sean.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.