Wolves notes: Backup center Adrien facing key contract deadlines

Now the question is, does he stay?

Monday is the day NBA teams can start signing players to 10-day contracts. Saturday is the day non-guaranteed contracts become guaranteed for the rest of the season.

At age 28, Jeff Adrien has been around long enough to know this is the time of the season where guys are on the move, particularly if you're playing for a team such as the Wolves that is looking for more of traditionally sized backup center.

"There's really not much you can about the business side," Adrien said. "You can only do what you can do on the court. You can't really worry about anything else. It got me here five years now so I definitely don't think about it too much."

The Wolves have considered many options for their 15th roster spot that Adrien currently occupies, including signing former Milwaukee 7-foot center Miroslav Raduljica. He was released last month by a Chinese team.

"I'll tell you that when we do it," Saunders said about adding a bigger body than the 6-7 Adrien. "We're just evaluating everything right now. We're back home for a while now, so it's going to be a little bit easier if we decide to do something."

The two teams played Saturday for the second time in five days, but the Jazz wasn't the same team it was just Tuesday.

But the Jazz still played on with the three guys — Gordon Hayward, Trey Burke and Derrick Favors — who hurt the Wolves the most last week in Salt Lake City.

"They're missing some players," Saunders said, "but not maybe the players you were hoping they'd be missing."

The Wolves played without veteran forward Chase Budinger, who was too ill to play Saturday.

After Utah came back from 10 points behind in the fourth quarter to beat the Wolves at home on Tuesday, Jazz players hinted they were inspired by Wolves forward Shabazz Muhammad's theatrics after he made one of his five three-point shots that night.

Muhammad circled his eye with his thumb and forefinger, making a "three goggles" gesture popularized by members of the Portland Trail Blazers.

• The Wolves' rookies sang happy 29th birthday greetings to injured center Nikola Pekovic after Saturday's morning shootaround — or else!

"Those are the rules," Pekovic said simply of the team's rookie tradition.

• Utah coach Quin Snyder, when asked if he took umbrage with Muhammad's three-point celebration on Tuesday:

"I didn't. I think those things are, in a lot of ways, a part of the game. Guys get excited and guys react to excitement and it's a part of competition. He was having a really good night."

• Burke went 2-for-19 from the field, including 0-for-11 from three-point distance, in his team's home loss to Atlanta on Friday.