The Timberwolves traded battered forward Chase Budinger to the Indiana Pacers last summer in an odd swap of fringe rotation players. Budinger was no longer useful after a series of knee issues in Minnesota and Rick Adelman no longer on the bench, and although Rudez had appeared in 68 games for the Paul George-less Pacers in 2014-15, he was no longer needed on a Pacers team that had designs on the playoffs.
Rudez shot 40.6 percent from beyond the arc on 170 attempts for the Pacers last season and figured to be a cursory member of the Timberwolves’ forward rotation in 2015-16, but ended up only appearing in 33 contests, averaging just 8.