Matt Ryan, newest Timberwolves player, trying to stay ready until he gets his opportunity

LOS ANGELES – When Matt Ryan was playing with the Lakers earlier this season, he was staying at a hotel near the team's practice facility.

He was on a non-guaranteed deal, so he knew the possibility loomed that the team could waive him at any moment. That happened on December 1. Six days later, the Wolves officially signed him to a two-way deal. In the transition, Ryan left some things behind in his hotel. Fortunately for him, he was back in Los Angeles and able to pick them up ahead of Wednesday's game against the Clippers.

"I had a friend go to that hotel yesterday and pick up some of the stuff I left," Ryan said at Wolves shootaround Wednesday morning.

Such is the life of a player trying to get his foothold in the NBA. Ryan was preparing for a long Lakers road trip before he got cut, so luckily he was already all packed to join the Wolves' five-game trip that brought him back through Los Angeles. The Wolves and Lakers are two of several organizations he has been with in some capacity; the others are the Celtics, Cavaliers and Nuggets.

He might be able to help bolster the Wolves' three-point shooting, where they rank 16th in attempts and 25th in accuracy. Ryan was a 37% three-point shooter with the Lakers and 36% in college. But the 6-6 forward knows he will likely have to wait for an opportunity.

"It was like a similar situation in L.A," Ryan said. "There was a need for three-point shooting, but at the same time, I'm still a young NBA player that doesn't have the full trust of whatever coaching staff I'm playing for.

"That was one of the issues I had in L.A., was just I thought that I was one of the better shooters on the team, but the opportunity wasn't there for whatever reasons. Now coming here, from the feedback I've gotten, their three-point shooting is struggling and it's just 'Be ready.' "

Ryan said the Wolves have embraced him with "open arms" since joining the team last week. The leaders on the team have been especially welcoming, he said.

"Everybody is making me feel like I've been here all year," Ryan said. "That's a great feeling, especially the big dogs. When I first walked into the locker room, the first day, D-Lo [D'Angelo Russell] was super happy to see me. He was surprised. He said, 'Damn what did the Lakers do?' When I saw Karl [Karl-Anthony Towns] the next day, right when he walked in the locker room, he was super excited."

Ryan has been accustomed to bouncing around in his career. He played with Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Chattanooga before entering the NBA. When the league was going through long delays and odd schedules because of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, Ryan was training, but he also found he had a lot of time to kill waiting for the NBA and G-League seasons to resume.

To fill the time, he worked as a DoorDash delivery driver and took care of the grounds of a cemetery near his home in upstate New York.

"I was going to the gym every day and I kind of just got bored," Ryan said. "I had a car and drove DoorDash. Make a little money. I had nothing else to do. I had my best friend or brother sometimes in the car with me, playing music and driving around. There was just nothing else to do. Then I got tired of all the driving, then I started working outdoor at a cemetery."

Eventually, the regular basketball schedule kicked back up in the summer of 2021. DoorDash and mowing the lawn at the cemetery can wait for now. There are other dreams to pursue.

"I just trained my mind every day, if that phone rang, I had to be ready to go play," Ryan said. "I had the same mind-set now. Any day, I'll be ready to play and make shots. That's part of being a pro when you're not like a solidified guy in the rotation, you just have to be ready to maximize your opportunity when it comes."

Russell joined the list of injured Wolves as he sat out Wednesday's game because of a left knee contusion. Russell appeared to injure himself in Monday's game against Portland when he collided with Josh Hart while going after a loose ball.

Russell and backup point guard Jordan McLaughlin (left calf strain) were both out. When asked how the Wolves would handle point guard duties, coach Chris Finch said, "Whoever gets it, bring it. Let's go." He added the ball would be in Anthony Edwards' hands a lot.

Taurean Prince remained out because of a shoulder injury.