Late on Friday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded Josh Green for Cody Williams and John Konchar (who was promptly waived) to clear up cap space to sign Jonathan Kuminga. Besides making the Kuminga signing official (which is great news) and taking an intriguing upside swing on Williams, this is a fairly minor move.
Green officially being out of the picture, though, opens up minutes for young wing Jaylen Clark. With the Timberwolves having plenty of established talent, they could use some low-usage role players to round out their rotation and complement their stars: Clark fits the bill.
Had they hypothetically kept Green and pursued a cap-cutting move elsewhere, though, Clark's path to minutes would be quite foggy, particularly considering Kuminga's presence.
Jaylen Clark could be an impactful role player
As things stand, Clark is a highly impactful perimeter defender. He is a disruptive point-of-attack defender who uses his strength and lateral quickness to mirror opposing guards' every move. This skill set helped carve out a role early in the season, before Ayo Dosunmu's arrival bounced him out of the rotation.
The Timberwolves signed Clark to a three-year, $10 million contract this summer. While this isn't a crazy investment, locking him up for three years can be seen as a vote of confidence. And now with Green officially out of the picture, there's a path for Clark to earn real minutes.
Kuminga gives the Timberwolves a starting forward, but Minnesota's forward depth is still shaky. As such, Clark could be asked to shift up and guard forwards, despite his point-of-attack prowess. Clark's strength, off-ball disruption, and basketball IQ could allow him to excel in this role.
Unfortunately, this has to be said whenever Clark's name comes up, but so much of his impact and minutes hinge on his outside shot developing. Ideally, Clark can become a classic 3-and-D wing. He shot just 32.7 percent from beyond the arc last season, and 30.2 percent in his college career, though.
Clark can still earn some situational minutes without improving as a shooter; his defense is that good. However, Clark's playoff viability will be limited if he doesn't add an outside shot. Going back to the Green point, had he remained on the roster, his more reliable 3-point shooting could have given him the clear edge over Clark.
Now, though, he has a clear opportunity in front of him to be a quality rotation player and connective piece for the Timberwolves. Clark's tenacious defense and low-maintenance offensive game could help elevate the Timberwolves' established talent and make him a high-end rotation player.
Again, to truly fulfill this upside, shooting growth will have to happen, but there's no denying that Clark's importance to the Timberwolves increases without Green.
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