Former Wildcat Chase Budinger suffers another setback in NBA

Four-year NBA veteran Chase Budinger was limited to only 23 games in the 2012-13 season with the Minnesota Timberwolves due to a torn meniscus in his left knee.

The Minnesota StarTribune reports the Timberwolves announced Friday morning that the former University of Arizona standout had injured the cartilage in the same knee that kept him out for much of last year.

“Budinger will have arthroscopic surgery to explore swelling in the knee that has developed recently,” Timberwolves reporter Jerry Zgoda wrote.

Prior to the announcement, 6-foot-7 small forward had claimed his knee had recovered from his surgery last winter. In July, the team signed him to a three-year, $15 million contract.

Flip Saunders, the president of basketball operations for the Timberwolves, said the new problem with Budinger’s knee developed within the last month, but that they couldn’t identify any particular moment when he re-injured it.

Budinger has averaged 9.4 points and shot 80.4 percent on free throws and 35.8 percent from behind the arc during his four years in the NBA — three with the Houston Rockets and one with Minnesota.