Isaiah Evans may have a future with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but as a rookie, the path to real minutes looks brutally crowded.
The Wolves liked Evans enough to take him at No. 33, and that made sense at the time. Extra spot-up shooting was a clear need, and Evans looked like strong value in that range.
But the picture changed fast. Less than 24 hours later, Minnesota swung the franchise-altering trade for LaMelo Ball and Josh Green, and Evans’ shooting suddenly mattered a lot less in the short term.
That doesn’t mean the Wolves are out on him long term. It just means the rookie-year runway is tiny.
Even before accounting for his uneven summer league, Evans is staring at a rotation that already has a long list of players ahead of him. Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, Ayo Dosunmu, Bones Hyland and Terrence Shannon Jr. are all clearly in front of him in the guard/wing mix. Jaylen Clark and Josh Green could be ahead of him too, which makes the climb even steeper.
Clark brings a relentless defensive edge, while Green fits the familiar low-usage, 3-and-D mold. Chris Finch tends to trust players who have already proven they can help win games, and that makes it tough to see Evans jumping the line over either of them, much less the bigger names ahead of them.
Donte DiVincenzo could also return in the middle of the season, which only tightens the squeeze. So if the argument is that Evans can earn regular minutes, the obvious question is simple: who exactly is he taking them from?
There will probably be some spot duty if injuries hit. That part feels reasonable. But expecting Evans to become a nightly rotation piece right away is a stretch.
The upside is still real. Evans could absolutely become a contributor down the road, maybe even by his second season.
His summer league shooting line - 13.3 3-point percentage - was ugly, but it doesn’t erase what he is as a shooter. At Duke last season, he hit 36.8 percent of his 7.4 triples, and the shot profile points to a player with real movement-shooting value.
There was also a silver lining in the summer league struggles. Evans showed he can be pesky on the ball defensively, something he’ll need to keep doing because of his thin frame. He was disruptive off the ball in college too, and that gives him a believable route to becoming a 3-and-D guard.
For now, though, that has to wait. Evans needs more development, and Minnesota would need roster movement to open up a lane for him.
On a competitive team with this much perimeter talent, a No. 33 pick cracking the rotation right away is already a long shot. For Evans, it looks even longer.
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