The Minnesota Timberwolves expect Ricky Rubio to return from his severe ankle injury in mid-January, according to a source.

Rubio has missed 24 games with a severely sprained left ankle he suffered on Nov. 7 at Orlando.

Rubio, who averaged 9.4 points, 10 assists and 5.6 rebounds in five games this season, could participate in contract drills next week.

"I am trying to do my best," Rubio said. "Sometimes it is a little bit painful. I got to get through that. Some things are mentally [challenging]. I just push myself and try to come back as soon as a I can.

"It's painful seeing them struggling some games. But we're young. …We didn't know that three of our best players would go down. It's hard when 20-, 19-year-old kids have to take 40 minutes a game.

"It's a process. They have to learn. Being a rookie is hard. Being a rookie playing 40 minutes a game is even harder. It's tough to adapt to the league."

Free agent center Miroslav Raduljica is finalizing a guaranteed contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the remainder of the season, league sources told RealGM.

Raduljica, a seven-footer, had spent the past week finalizing his buyout settlement with Shandong of the Chinese Basketball Association.

Raduljica’s agent, Matt Babcock of APAA Sports Group, gauged calls around the NBA upon settling the situation in China and sought a guaranteed deal.

In 48 games as a rookie for the Milwaukee Bucks last season, Raduljica was a tremendously efficient player and averaged 3.8 points and 2.3 rebounds. He shot 54 percent from the field and 81.8 percent from the foul line.

Raduljica was traded to and waived by the Los Angeles Clippers in the offseason and returned overseas in China.

As a breakout performer of the Serbian national team’s silver medal finish in the 2014 FIBA World Cup, Raduljica averaged 13 points and 4.6 rebounds over nine tournament games.

The Minnesota Timberwolves began their trade talks involving Kevin Love with the Golden State Warriors before eventually agreeing upon a deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Warriors were unwilling to include Klay Thompson in any deal for Love, which made a trade impossible for both sides.

The Wolves acquired Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and Thaddeus Young for Love, Alexey Shved and Luc Mbah a Moute.

Flip Saunders says the Wolves would have kept Love if the deal with the Cavaliers didn't come together. There were no other trades on the table at that point which were to the Wolves' liking.

The Houston Rockets have acquired Corey Brewer from the Minnesota Timberwolves for Troy Daniels.

Ronny Turiaf will also be included from the Wolves, but sent to the Philadelphia 76ers with a second round pick.

The 76ers will send Alexey Shved to the Rockets.

Corey Brewer has been placed back on the trading block by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers, sources said, remain the most interested suitors for Brewer, but have also been joined by the Los Angeles Clippers.

Flip Saunders, after calling Brewer "too valuable to trade" on Nov. 20, publicly acknowledged last week that the Wolves' many injuries and subsequent struggles to compete in the difficult West have forced Minnesota to concede that the team is shifting from a "retool" mode to a "rebuild."

Last season, Kevin Pelton found that 25 of the previous 26 ROY awards had gone to the rookie with the highest combined averages of points, rebounds and assists per game. Michael Carter-Williams, the 2014-15 winner, made that 26 of 27.

Andrew Wiggins is now the favorite to win Rookie of the Year following the season-ending injury to Jabari Parker.

Parker was leading rookies in that combined category at 19.5, followed by Wiggins at 17.8, Nerlens Noel at 16.2 and Zach LaVine at 15.1.

The one ROY in the past 27 seasons not to lead rookies in combined per-game stats was Amar'e Stoudemire, who finished a combined 0.1 behind Yao Ming in 2003-04.

Ronny Turiaf will undergo an arthroscopic procedure on his right hip. The operation will be performed this Tuesday by Dr. Bryan Kelly at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. A further update on Turiaf’s status will be provided following Tuesday’s procedure.

Turiaf has played in two games this season, totaling one rebound and two assists in just over 18 minutes of action. Turiaf spent the first five games of the season and the last 14 contests on the inactive list due to right hip soreness.

With injuries to Nikola Pekovic, Ricky Rubio and Kevin Martin, the Minnesota Timberwolves are shifting the focus of the season to a rebuild.

Flip Saunders headed into the season hopeful that it would be more of a "retool" with a "blended" roster.

“Now you look at a situation where we might be going into a rebuild, which changes the dynamics of everything,” Saunders said.

The Wolves could look to trade veterans such as Martin, Corey Brewer, Thaddeus Young and Mo Williams, while opening up more playing time for Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Anthony Bennett, Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng.

“When you’re doing a rebuild, it’s not pleasant for anybody,” Saunders said. “It’s not pleasant for fans, for you guys [media members], for coaches, for players. But sometimes you’re forced to do some things that maybe you didn’t plan on doing. Hopefully what you do is, I have to have patience understanding that. Fans have to have patience — and everyone has to have patience — in understanding what that does mean.”

Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins have been named the NBA's Rookies of the Month for November.

Parker helped lead the Bucks to a 10-8 mark during October/November by averaging 11.9 points (T-1^st among rookies), 6.1 rebounds (2^nd), 1.7 assists (7^th) and 1.33 steals (2^nd) per game. He began his career by posting double-doubles in two of his first three games (11 points and 10 rebounds on Oct. 31 vs. Philadelphia, and 13 points and 11 rebounds on Nov. 1 at Washington). In doing so, Parker became just the 14^th player in the last 30 seasons to record multiple double-doubles within his first three career games, and the only teenager to accomplish the feat.

Wiggins averaged 11.6 points (2nd among NBA rookies), 3.7 rebounds and 1.13 steals in 15 games, all starts. He led all rookies in three-point field goal percentage at 44.0 percent (11-for-25). Among Western Conference rookies, Wiggins was 1st in scoring, steals and minutes played, 2nd in blocks and 3rd in rebounding.