The Minnesota Timberwolves' need for a point guard isn't a secret. If they don't address this need with a trade, Terrence Shannon Jr. could offer an intriguing solution to this problem.
It wasn’t an ideal second season for Shannon. The 25-year-old missed nearly two months, about midway through the year from December to February, with a left foot abductor hallucis strain. Even in the 43 regular season games he did play in, only seven of them did he see more than 20 minutes of game action.
Shannon began to play more at the end of the regular season and midway through the playoffs. Speaking to Paul Allen of KFAN, Finch mentioned that Shannon could get more playing time next season in a lead guard role while acknowledging the team's need for another ball handler.
“I think we finally found the best deployment of him (Shannon). He definitely needs the ball in his hands more. I think he can play well alongside Anthony (Edwards) as the primary ball handler. So back to the question two minutes ago, I think that’s part of the solution there, internally," Finch said.
Will it work? I’d like to see the Timberwolves give him the opportunity.
Shannon Jr. hasn’t often been the lead ball-handler for MinnesotaÂ
Now, I can’t flat-out say that playing Shannon at point guard is a no-brainer decision. That’s because we haven’t really seen him in that role during his first 2 NBA seasons.
According to Basketball Reference, only 1 percent of Shannon’s possessions this season came with him as the point guard. As a rookie, it’s at 0 percent. There’s no way you can say with certainty that playing him as the lead guard will work out when he’s spent such minimal time there over 877 career minutes.Â
In his last year playing collegiately at Illinois in 2023-24, the Fighting Illini didn’t truly have a normal starting point guard. Shannon did a decent amount of the ball-handling for a school that went 29-9 that season. In that role, he was elite at drawing fouls and got to the foul line 8.6 times per contest.
I just don’t see the harm, early on in the season, of trying Shannon in that role. I don’t think he will start (as long as they re-sign Ayo Dosunmu), but I also believe this is the year he should start seeing 18-20 minutes per game (as long as Donte DiVincenzo is out).
If that entails playing him at the lead guard for at least half that time, go for it. It seems likely Mike Conley will be back, but he’s turning 39 before the season begins. Bones Hyland might be back as well, but Shannon has proven to be the much better playoff performer.
As long as he's on the team (with Tim Connelly, trades can absolutely occur this offseason), expect to see some experimentation with Shannon in that role.
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