Timberwolves veteran guard Kevin Martin's return from November surgery has been delayed at least until Sunday's game at Atlanta because of swelling in his right shooting wrist.
Martin targeted Wednesday's game against Dallas for his return from Nov. 25 surgery that repaired a wrist he fractured against New York six days earlier. But after being affected by it during shooting workouts Monday and Tuesday, he awoke Wednesday to find swelling that coach Flip Saunders called "significant" pushed back his return.
Martin had fluid drained from the wrist Thursday and didn't play Friday, along with injured teammates Ricky Rubio and Shabazz Muhammad while center Nikola Pekovic played his second game back after missing 31 games.
Martin wore a wrap/brace Friday that provided compression on the wrist.
"We thought he was close, he was feeling good and then there was a setback," Saunders said. "A lot of times that's what will happen in these rehab situations."
Perky Pek
Pekovic said Friday he still has pain in his troublesome ankle, but sounded optimistic about Wednesday's return in which he played 22 minutes after he had missed 31 consecutive games.
"If it's going to be like this and if I feel like this, it's going to be good," he said. "It's only one game, but still today I feel better. My foot doesn't feel sore. I still got some pain. It's basically nothing worse than the days before."
Pekovic scored 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds in 21 minutes Friday.