“Not this year,” Taylor said when asked whether Saunders would return, via the Star Tribune. “I just think his illness, I mean, it’s serious. At this point, if he came back I still think he’d have a hard time to recover all his energy and all that because he has been in the hospital for a long time.”
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When Saunders was diagnosed in June, doctors said his condition was a “very treatable and curable form of cancer."
Timberwolves assistant Sam Mitchell, who played for Saunders with the Timberwolves in the late 1990s, is coaching the team during Saunders’ abscense. The team opens the season Wednesday at the Lakers.