There’s no denying that Terrence Shannon Jr.’s second season. was disappointing. TSJ was hyped as the primary replacement for Nickeil Alexander-Walker, but underperformed on both ends of the court.
Shannon is averaging just 4.5 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.6 assists on 39.5/40.5/77.8 shooting splits. His poor finishing is a major concern because that’s what made him so special in college. Additionally, the Wolves’ defense is 15.6 points per 100 possessions worse with Shannon on the court according to Cleaning the Glass.
Of course, this rough start isn’t entirely Shannon’s fault as he has missed 34 games due to a foot injury and hasn’t played since Christmas. However, the 6-foot-1 wing is ready to return after the All-Star break.
This leaves the Minnesota Timberwolves with a tough question: Do you continue to let Shannon play through his struggles, or do you pull the plug on the 2024 first-round pick?
There is no clear answer as to what the Timberwolves should do with Shannon
Deciding what to do with Shannon is undoubtedly a challenging balance. Still, I’d be pretty surprised if Chris Finch doesn’t give him a shot when he returns after the All-Star break. Shannon has not yet received a DNP-CD this season.
Now, Shannon has played less than 10 minutes in nine of those games. So if TSJ plays, I would expect his minutes to be fairly limited.
Either way, that complicates things when evaluating him. It is difficult to get into a rhythm when you play a limited number of minutes and have had an injury of almost two months. What taking him out of the rotation does to his long-term development is a crucial question for Finch to consider.
Still, the Timberwolves have championship aspirations and are desperately fighting for placement in a loaded Western Conference. As such, it’s hard to justify spending minutes on Shannon if he struggles returning from injury.
Giving Shannon substantial minutes would mean cutting one of the starter’s minutes or Ayo Dosunmu’s minutes. Neither outcome is ideal for the Wolves, even if it is a temporary measure to see if Shannon is truly willing to contribute.
If Shannon is firing on all cylinders again, it would make Finch’s decision much easier. Even though this means fewer minutes for the starters, the overall benefit of a deeper bench would make playing Shannon worthwhile.
However, given what we’ve seen from TSJ this season when he’s been healthy, I don’t think his minutes are likely to have much of an impact, especially upon his immediate return. Sure, his hypothetical skill set is something the Wolves could really benefit from, but honestly, we haven’t seen much evidence that he’s a net positive player.
To me, the most likely scenario is that Finch will hand over Jaylen Clark’s minutes to Shannon. Clark is averaging 13.4 minutes on the season, but only 7.5 minutes in the six games in February. In many ways this feels like the easiest solution to Finch’s Shannon Dilemma, but as previously outlined, playing Shannon in such a limited role comes with obvious risks.
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