It's mid-August and Shabazz Muhammad — a 24-year-old who can score and should still be improving — remains a free agent and shows up on a lot of those "best remaining NBA free agent" lists. If he was hoping to cash in this offseason, that prospect seems far less likely by the day.

Muhammad, who has had four streaky (but productive) seasons with the Wolves, might be in a spot soon where he has to take a short-term "prove-it" deal in hopes of improving his leverage the next time he's a free agent.

That makes a tweet Wednesday night from new Wolves guard Jamal Crawford pretty interesting. In it, he implores Muhammad to "c'mon back home," presumably meaning back to the Wolves.

The Wolves have roster spots and limited cash to spend. Muhammad is an imperfect player, but he is a known commodity who can make threes and score off the bench — things the Wolves can use.

Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.