Timberwolves shootaround just ended at Target Center and Nikola Pekovic says he intends to play tonight against Utah but won't know definitively until he warms up before the game and tests that ankle he sprained Monday in Denver.

"I feel OK, just a little pain," he said. "I will be fine."

He participated in the shootaround, but said he didn't do much but shoot.

"We'll see how it feels when if I start to do some tough ones," he said. "We're going to see how I feel."

Asked if he plays will he be 100 percent, he said he'd be close to it.

Pekovic said as far as he knows, the NBA never inquired about his health or availability before it picked Utah's Derrick Favors to replace injured San Antonio center Tiago Splitter in Friday's Rising Stars game.

This is the Wolves' last game before the All-Star weekend break and it kicks off the second half of the 66-game season.

A victory also will get them to 17 this season, as many as they won as last season.

One other thing: Tonight's game might give a little taste of Saturday's All-Star slam dunk contest. The NBA added Jeremy Evans to the event today because Iman Shumpert is injured and can't compete.

Evans will compete Saturday against Derrick Williams, who said he still is talking daily with teammate Ricky Rubio about what role Rubio's playmaking skills might play in the dunk contest.