MINNEAPOLIS — Brandon Roy says his retirement from the league last year wasn't intended as a final decision.

The Minnesota Timberwolves were eager to help Roy — a former standout for the Washington Huskies and Garfield High School in Seattle — clarify his status.

"After a few months of sitting out, I decided, 'Hey, I don't want to stop playing basketball,' " the 28-year-old Roy said Tuesday at a news conference after signing a two-year, $10.4 million contract with Minnesota. "I wanted to continue going forward. It was never a situation where I said, 'I'm done forever.' It's just more of a pause."

The Portland Trail Blazers announced Roy's medical-related retirement before the start of the lockout-shortened season last year. His knees, lacking cartilage after six operations, were bothering him too much to continue. In a statement released by the Blazers in December, the three-time All-Star said, "I will seek a determination that I've suffered a career-ending injury."

On Tuesday, Roy said Portland's team doctor advised him to quit last year. The Blazers used the amnesty clause to waive Roy and not count the remaining $63 million on his contract against their salary cap or luxury tax.

"It was never really officially my decision to retire," Roy said.

Roy was on a playing-time limit of 22 minutes per game during his last season with the Blazers, a restriction he found frustrating. Roy said his goal is to become a 35-minute-per-game player; his career average is 35.6.

"I thought some teams maybe wanted me to play a small role," 6-foot-6 guard Roy said. "But Minnesota was saying, 'You can come in and earn as big of a role as you want.' So that was really important for me."

Roy talked with at least four other NBA teams, according to the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.

Roy worked out for two months last winter before deciding to try an increasingly popular but medically unproven procedure known as platelet-rich plasma therapy. It is basically an injection of a patient's own blood back into the body. Roy said it has allowed him to work out hard and feel no day-after discomfort.

Notes

• The Chicago Bulls announced the signing of guard Nate Robinson, a former UW Huskies and Rainier Beach High School player.

Robinson, 28, averaged 11.2 points for Golden State last season.

• Swingman Brandon Rush, 27, agreed to an $8 million, two-year deal to stay with Golden State.