After Tuesday night's close loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Minnesota Timberwolves now sit at 2-1 in Summer League play. To this point, there have been some outstanding individual performances, perhaps none bigger than Terrence Shannon Jr.'s consistently strong play.
The 2024 first-round pick is quickly confirming suspicions that he was one of the steals of the draft, and is showing everyone that he will have a great chance of making an impact right away once the NBA season begins. There is a long way to go, but early signs are that Tim Connelly and the front office got it right once again.
Interestingly enough, Tuesday night's loss to the Sixers was Shannon's least impressive statistical performance of Summer League thus far, but he still held up in one particular category: field goal percentage. The physically-gifted wing added nine points on 3-for-5 shooting, knocking down one of his two three-point attempts as well.
Terrence Shannon Jr. is shooting 60% from the floor
This came after he scored 25 and made nine of his 14 shot attempts against the Pelicans in the Wolves' first Summer League game, and went 6-for-11 with 19 points in Game 2 against Indiana. In total, Terrence has made 18 of 30 shots from the floor since the team first began play in Las Vegas, good for a 60% overall shooting mark.
It is safe to say that Shannon feels comfortable out there playing against guys that are largely inferior to him from a pure talent standpoint. Turning 24 years old at the end of July, Terrence is a bit older than most of his peers on the floor. It was somewhat expected that he would have a good showing at Summer League, but he has simply been dominating.
Fans in Minnesota should be excited about the level of play Shannon has been showcasing. Summer League games are often overanalyzed or overvalued, but TSJ's performance is not to be dismissed given the role the Timberwolves coaching staff sees for his in the upcoming season.