Minnesota Timberwolves: Tracking new players’ progress part 2
By Andrew Ites
Omari Spellman
Omari Spellman came to Minnesota in the same trade as Jacob Evans as the Warriors tried to dump some salary to avoid paying the luxury tax on one of the worst teams in the league.
However, Spellman has a better track record of production at the NBA level than Evans even though they are both essentially the same age.
Spellman hasn’t suited up for the NBA squad in Minnesota since the trade was made, but he’s been extremely productive at the G League level for the Iowa Wolves.
In his first four games in Iowa, Spellman is putting up 20 points and 6.5 rebounds per game while knocking down 42.4 percent of his 8.3 3-point attempts per game. He’s also dishing out 2 assists per contest while swiping 1 steal per game.
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The 22-year-old big man was having a solid year for Golden State before being traded with 7.6 points and 4.5 rebounds in 18 minutes per game while hitting 39.1 percent of his shots from downtown in 49 games.
It’s been a bit confusing why Spellman hasn’t had a chance to play in Minnesota yet as the Wolves are quite thin in the frontcourt while Karl-Anthony Towns recovers from his broken wrist. I’m a big fan of Hernangomez, Naz Reid, and James Johnson, but it would be nice to see Spellman get some run at the NBA level during the final month-and-a-half of this season to see if he could potentially be a rotational player on next year’s team as he is under contract for the 2020-21 season.
Until then, the former Villanova big man will likely continue to put up big numbers in Iowa while he continues to improve the finer points of his game.