There's no denying that Terrence Shannon Jr.'s second season has been underwhelming. TSJ was hyped up as the primary Nickeil Alexander-Walker replacement, but has underperformed on both ends of the floor.
Shannon is averaging just 4.5 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 0.6 assists on 39.5/40.5/77.8 shooting splits. His poor finishing is a key concern since that's what made him so special in college. Furthermore, the Wolves' defense is 15.6 points per 100 possessions worse with Shannon on the court per Cleaning the Glass.
Of course, this rocky start isn't entirely Shannon's fault, as he has missed 34 games with a foot injury and hasn't played since Christmas. However, the 6-foot-6 wing is primed to return after the All-Star break.
This leaves the Minnesota Timberwolves with a difficult question: Do you continue to have Shannon play through his struggles, or pull the plug on the 2024 first-round pick?
There's no clear answer as to what the Timberwolves should do with Shannon
Deciding what to do with Shannon is undoubtedly a challenging balance. Nevertheless, I'd be pretty surprised if Chris Finch doesn't give him a chance when he returns after the All-Star break. Shannon has yet to receive a DNP-CD this season.
Now, during nine of these games, Shannon has played fewer than 10 minutes. Thus, if TSJ does play, I'd expect his minutes to be fairly limited.
Regardless, that makes things complicated when evaluating him. It's hard to get into a rhythm if you're playing limited minutes and coming off a near two month injury. What does being out of the rotation do to his long-term development is a crucial question for Finch to ponder.
Still, the Timberwolves have championship aspirations and are desperately fighting for seeding in a loaded Western Conference. As such, it's hard to justify committing minutes to Shannon if he struggles upon returning from injury.
Giving substantial minutes to Shannon would mean either cutting into one of the starters' minutes or Ayo Dosunmu's minutes. Neither outcome is ideal for the Wolves, even if it's a temporary measure to see if Shannon is truly ready to contribute.
Now, if Shannon comes back firing on all cylinders, that would make Finch's decision much easier. Even if it means fewer minutes for the starters, the overall benefit of a deeper bench would make playing Shannon worth it.
Given what we've seen from TSJ when he's been healthy this season, though, I don't think it's likely that his minutes will be very impactful, especially upon his immediate return. Sure, his hypothetical skill set is something that the Wolves could really benefit from, but frankly, we haven't seen much evidence that he's a net positive player.
To me, the most likely scenario is that Finch will hand Jaylen Clark's minutes to Shannon. Clark is averaging 13.4 minutes on the season but just 7.5 minutes in the six games in February. In many ways, this feels like the easiest solution to Finch's Shannon dilemma -- yet, as outlined before, playing Shannon in such a limited role has clear risks.