He played one season of college basketball for the UCLA Bruins before being selected with the 14th overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft.

In his only season with UCLA, he earned All-American honors and was named to the all-conference first team in the Pac-12; he was also voted Pac-12 co-Freshman of the Year.

[1] Ron Holmes was a 6-foot-5-inch (1.96 m) standout, four-year starting point guard for the USC Trojans men's basketball program in the 1980s.

His older sister Asia is a professional tennis player, and his younger brother Rashad played basketball in high school.

[1] In his junior year, Muhammad led Bishop Gorman averaging 25.1 points and 7.7 rebounds for the season.

[11] CBS college basketball analyst Greg Anthony called Muhammad a "once-in-a-generation talent.

"[12] Boasting scholarship offers from scores of basketball programs, Muhammad's final list of schools was Duke, Kentucky, and UCLA.

[13][14] Muhammad was declared ineligible to play hours prior to UCLA's 2012–13 season opener against Indiana State due to alleged violations involving the NCAA's amateurism rules surrounding unofficial university visits.

[25] Muhammad finished the season averaging 17.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game.

[30][31] While attending the NBA's rookie transition program in August before the season, Muhammad was sent home due to a rules violation.

[34] On February 8, with three teammates out injured, Muhammad scored 12 points in a 117–110 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

[28] On April 5, he sprained the medial collateral ligament (MCL) of his right knee against the Miami Heat, which forced him to miss the remainder of the season.

[37] During the offseason, Muhammad lost weight and tuned his offensive game, and he enjoyed an improved season in 2014–15 before suffering injuries.

[39] On January 9, 2015, he missed the fourth quarter against the Milwaukee Bucks after suffering a strained external oblique.

[44] Muhammad continued to struggle on the defensive end in 2016–17, which made it difficult for him to earn the confidence of coach Tom Thibodeau over the first two months of the season.

He scored 10 first-quarter points against the Bucks and hit his first four three-pointers of the game to help lead the Timberwolves to a 116–99 win.

[47] On February 23, 2018, he played his final game of the season for Minnesota, logging four points in three minutes during a 120–102 loss to the Houston Rockets.

[57] On October 27, 2018, Muhammad made his debut for Shanxi, contributed 26 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal in a 98–92 loss to the Tianjin Golden Lions.

[74] Muhammad's uncle, Stephone Paige, played nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with 377 career receptions.

[2] On March 22, 2013, it was revealed in a report from the Los Angeles Times that Muhammad was actually born exactly one year earlier than his thought-to-be birthday of November 13, 1993.

Los Angeles Times assumes that this was to make Muhammad look better "competing against younger, smaller athletes, particularly in the fast-growing years of early adolescence", and compared the case to that of baseball's Danny Almonte.