How will the Minnesota Timberwolves cover Juancho Hernangomez’s absence?

The Minnesota Timberwolves will likely be without Juan Hernangomez for at least the first several weeks of the 2021-22 season.

How will head coach Chris Finch cover Hernangomez’s minutes, and which players will find themselves getting the opportunity for more playing time?

Recapping Juancho Hernangomez’s 2020-21 season with the Timberwolves

Juancho Hernangomez’s injury is reportedly a serious one, suffered during an exhibition game with Team Spain prior to the Tokyo Olympics. It’s a serious blow to the Wolves’ depth moving forward.

Hernangomez entered the 2020-21 season as the Wolves’ presumptive starter at power forward.

He had shot the lights out in 14 games with the Wolves post-trade deadline in 2020, averaging 12.9 points per game on 42 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Minnesota rewarded him in free agency, giving him a three-year, $21 million deal with the third year ending up as a team option.

Hernangomez missed the Wolves’ fall camp last September due to a previous commitment as an actor in a movie. After an unconventional offseason that didn’t allow players to train as they normally would, Hernangomez struggled mightily at the start of the season.

He averaged only 12.6 minutes per game over the first five games as he attempted to play himself into shape. Hernangomez joined the starting lineup in Game No. 6 and played in six games as a starter before testing positive for COVID-19, leading to 12 consecutive missed games.

Once healthy, Hernangomez was out of then-head coach Ryan Saunder’s rotation. But shortly after Chris Finch took over on the bench, he began to give a few more minutes to Hernangomez, who had played on Finch’s squad in Denver years earlier.

Finch played Hernangomez at the 3 at times, allowing him to focus more on shooting and cutting offensively and putting less pressure on him on the defensive glass. He played much better over the final weeks of the season as his per-game averages and shooting percentages ticked up ever so slightly.

Still, it was a disappointing season for Hernangomez. With his contract effectively an expiring deal due to the team option for 2022-23, there was a chance that he could have been a trade candidate this offseason. Alas, the shoulder injury will make him virtually untradeable.

But if he had stayed on the roster, Hernangomez very likely would have been one of the first options off the bench as a combo forward with the capability to knock down 3s and play intelligent offense.

What will the Wolves do to back-fill his role in the rotation?

How will the Minnesota Timberwolves cover Juancho Hernangomez’s absence?

The injury to Hernangomez almost certainly makes second-year forward Jaden McDaniels a surefire starter at the 4. That’s barring a significant trade, of course, but McDaniels was used in a similar fashion to Hernangomez on offense by Finch last year.

The Wolves also have both Malik Beasley and Anthony Edwards on the wing. Neither is a good defender, so it stands to reason that Finch will continue so slide McDaniels to the 3 and insert another big man at the 4 in certain situations.

Sans Hernangomez, such a lineup would favor Jarred Vanderbilt — if the Wolves are able to bring him back in restricted free agency, that is.

Vanderbilt is in some ways the anti-Hernangomez: a horrible offensive player but a wrecking ball on defense and on the boards. Paired with a solid defender and budding offensive contributor in McDaniels, it gives the Wolves a pair of long, switchable, bouncy forwards.

Other options at forward include Jake Layman, who has had two injury-riddled and disappointing years in a Timberwolves uniform, and rookie Leandro Bolmaro, provided that the Argentinian star indeed signs a contract to play in Minnesota this fall.

Neither is likely to be cast as a power forward in Finch’s rotation, but both could theoretically play the 4.

Naz Reid will still play most of his minutes at backup center, but should also see time at the 4.

At the end of the day, the Wolves should have enough forward depth to cover an extended absence for Hernangomez. But he’s the best outside shooter of the group; for instance, a theoretical five-man unit of Ricky Rubio, Edwards, McDaniels, Vanderbilt, and Reid would be light on shooting ability.

Here’s hoping that Hernangomez’s injury is not as serious as it’s thought to be and that Juancho can come back and play as soon as possible. But the Wolves are likely to be facing the reality that their forward depth — not to mention their trade assets — were dealt a big blow this week.