MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota Timberwolves forward Dante Cunningham was arrested early Thursday on allegations of domestic assault and was being held without bail pending charges while his team left for a two-game road trip in Florida.
Cunningham was booked into Hennepin County Jail just after 6 a.m., according to police records. The woman involved in the incident at Cunningham’s suburban Minneapolis home did not require medical treatment, police said.
The Timberwolves issued a statement saying they were aware of Cunningham’s arrest and were in the process of gathering more information.
“The Minnesota Timberwolves organization takes the matter very seriously and does not condone the type of behavior that is associated with this situation,” the statement read. “However, we need to let the legal process run its course, and will have further comment at the appropriate time.”
The team left for Miami on Thursday afternoon. The Wolves play the Heat on Friday and the Orlando Magic on Saturday before returning home.
The 26-year-old Cunningham has been one of coach Rick Adelman’s most trusted bench players over the last two years and is the primary backup to Kevin Love at power forward. He has played center in smaller lineups and has been able to guard almost every position besides point guard for a defensively challenged team.
In his fifth year in the league, Cunningham is averaging 6.0 points and 4.0 rebounds this season. He is set to become a free agent on July 1 after completing the final year of his contract that pays him $2.1 million this season.
Cunningham’s arrest further depletes an already thin frontcourt for the Wolves. Center Nikola Pekovic has been bothered for the entire second half of the season by a sore right ankle while Ronny Turiaf just returned from a bruised right knee that caused him to miss 19 games.
In an unrelated move, the Timberwolves waived veteran point guard A.J. Price on Thursday. Price played sparingly in 28 games for the Wolves this season, averaging 1.6 points. He had been unavailable recently after having an emergency appendectomy.
Before Price was waived, the Wolves had the maximum 15 players on their roster, meaning they could not bring another player in. Cutting Price gives the team the flexibility to add a player, but Price was informed of the decision on Wednesday night after the Timberwolves defeated the Memphis Grizzlies and hours before Cunningham was arrested.
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