Many mock drafts had Isaiah Evans being selected in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft. Instead, he fell to the second round, and the Minnesota Timberwolves took the 20-year-old with the 33rd overall pick.
On Wednesday, Chris Finch was a guest on Paul Allen’s radio show on KFAN. There, Allen wanted Finch’s comments on the rookie.
“I got a report card out of Paris,” Finch said. “A couple of guys said, ‘Hey, the rook’s really good coach, he just needs coaching.’ And I’m like, ‘Good, that’s exactly what we want to hear.’”
Finch later added:
“We’re definitely going to take a bit longer of a runway with him, we’re not going to rush anything. He’s going to have every opportunity to earn his chances through training camp. We know that.”
At first glance, it’s hard to see Evans having a role, at least early in the season. He might have to make it obvious to everyone that he needs to be out there once the stakes are high.
Evans doesn’t have an easy path to playing time
Even before Finch made these comments, it was pretty evident that Evans is a long shot to be in the Wolves’ rotation, at least when they are fully healthy.
As a second-round pick, it’s not easy to find a regular role on a team with championship aspirations. Of course, there’s a non-zero chance that Evans shows out so much during training camp and the preseason that Finch has no choice but to give him an opportunity to begin the regular season.
It’s doubtful that the Oklahoma City Thunder expected Ajay Mitchell to get a lot of playing time as a rookie after he was selected in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. However, it quickly became evident that he should be playing. Evans would have to do something similar.
The easiest way for Evans to defy the odds and earn playing time early on is to be a marksman from long range. Outside shooting is his strength entering the league, and while his three-point percentage took a downturn in his sophomore year at Duke, Evans shot 41.6 percent as a freshman.
Now, it’s up to Finch to coach Evans to reach his full potential. While he’s either the best or second-best head coach in franchise history, the track record for rookies in recent years under his watch is that they struggle to find regular playing time.
So, Evans isn’t a lost cause if he rides the bench or spends a lot of his rookie year in the G League with the Iowa Wolves. The expectation should be that he doesn’t play a lot in 2026–27. It’s not impossible, though, that this turns out not to be the case.
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