The Timberwolves have one of the least productive benches in the NBA. That continued in Monday’s meltdown (yes, their second straight) against the Kings.
Minnesota signed Johnny Juzang to a non-guaranteed (and later converted to a two-way) contract in the offseason. He earned a two-way after a stellar preseason, and it may be time for Chris Finch to see if Juzang can help fix the bench woes.
Juzang was a scorer while with Utah
One thing is clear, and that is that the Timberwolves’ reserves could use a scoring boost. Their bench only totaled 18 points in Monday’s loss.
Maybe it’s time to play someone who has proven to be a capable outside shooter and scorer in previous seasons? Now in his fourth year, Juzang has only appeared in garbage time since the regular season began for Minnesota. In 7 appearances, the 6-foot-7 guard/forward has totaled just 21 minutes of action.
If you recall, Juzang made it evident that he deserved a roster spot due to his play in the preseason. In 17.6 minutes per contest over five preseason games, Juzang averaged 13.8 points (and 4.2 rebounds). The scoring was efficient as well since he shot 50% from the field and 14-29 (48.3%) on 3-point tries.
Johnny Juzang is absolutely on fire. He's now 6-8 from 3 and has brought the Wolves all the way back from 24 down.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 8, 2025
Last season (albeit on a bad Jazz team), Juzang averaged 8.9 points in 19.8 minutes. He shot 37.6% from deep on nearly five 3-point attempts per contest. He reached double figures in scoring in 30 of his 64 outings, including a 27-point performance against the Wizards.
While he wouldn’t get the playing time that he received in Utah, why not see if Juzang could provide a spark to an underwhelming bench?
One of the least productive benches in NBA
In Monday’s loss, Naz Reid dropped 15 points in 23 minutes. The former Sixth Man of the Year can be counted on to make an impact off the bench.
The other reserves, not so much. Mike Conley had three points in 25 minutes. The returning Terrence Shannon Jr. didn’t score in his seven minutes. Rob Dillingham and Jaylen Clark combined to go scoreless in 15 minutes.
That’s just 18 points from the bench, with five-sixths of them coming from Reid. That’s also well short of the 31.4 points per game they get from their reserves this season, the third-least in the NBA.
Much of the talk surrounding the Timberwolves will be about them absolutely blowing a second-straight game. Don’t gloss over the fact, though, that getting scoring from the reserves (outside of Reid) has been an absolute struggle.