With the Minnesota Timberwolves depleted with injuries, the team Tuesday signed forward Arinze Onuaku for the remainder of this season. The Timberwolves were granted an NBA hardship exception for a 16th roster spot due to having four players out due to injury.
Onuaku, 27, averaged 17.5 points, on 62.2 percent shooting, and 12.2 rebounds in 41 games this season for the Canton Charge of the NBA D-League and was named to the D-League All-Star Game for the third consecutive season. Onuaku played for the Pacers on their summer-league team this past season but was waived before the start of the regular season.
The 6-foot-10 forward has five games of NBA experience, playing in three games for the New Orleans Pelicans and two for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2013-14, averaging a combined 0.6 points and 1.6 rebounds. In May of 2014, he joined the Chongqing Flying Dragons for the 2014 Chinese NBL, and averaged 28.6 points and 14.8 rebounds in 19 games. Onuaku averaged 14.8 points, on 62.8 percent shooting, and 10.1 rebounds for Canton in 2013-14 and 12.6 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Charge in 2012-13.
Onuaku went undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft after a four years at Syracuse, where he averaged 9.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in 134 games. He finished his collegiate career first on Syracuse's all-time field-goal percentage list at 64.8 percent (540-for-833).
The Timberwolves are without Shabazz Muhammad, Nikola Pekovic and Ricky Rubio for the final two weeks of the season. Gary Neal didn't make the road trip with the team and Anthony Bennett and Gorgui Dieng are also listed as out. Kevin Garnett has an illness and hasn't played since March 7, although he is listed as questionable to play in Tuesday night's game at Sacramento.
