Isaiah Evans’ final preseason game was the kind of night the Timberwolves had to have circled when they took him with the 33rd pick in June.
After a rocky stretch in summer league and the first part of preseason, the rookie showed exactly why Minnesota was so high on him. In the Wolves’ final preseason game against the Chicago Bulls, Evans scored 21 points and knocked down five of his 10 3-point attempts while Minnesota rested its starters. It was a sharp turnaround from the cold shooting that had followed him into October, when he hit just 20.5 percent from deep in summer league and 30.8 percent in his first four preseason games.
That performance matters because Evans’ best path to sticking in the NBA is pretty clear. He is not expected to jump right into the rotation on a Minnesota roster already packed with guards and wings, but his shooting gives him a real long-term lane. On Friday, he looked like the player the Timberwolves believed they were getting.
A lot of his damage came the way it should for a shooter like Evans: off the catch. He played with confidence all night, even letting one fly from near the hash marks.
The shot looked clean, the mechanics looked smooth, and for stretches he looked like a player who belongs at this level. Whether he’s spotting up or running off screens, Evans has a chance to be a threat from long range.
That skill was the selling point all along. Evans was one of the best shooters in the class, even if the raw numbers don’t scream it at first glance.
He shot 36.1 percent from 3-point range at Duke, but that came with heavy volume - 7.4 attempts per game. Draftballr had him in the 94th percentile for 3-point rate.
In plain terms, he fires away, and he can make those shots.
That kind of spacing has obvious value next to players like Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball, and Ball can also help create clean looks for Evans. The issue is that Evans is not ready to walk into the league as an automatic marksman, and his summer league and preseason numbers backed that up. Still, if he gets back to the level he showed in college, Minnesota could have a real weapon on its hands.
There’s also plenty of work ahead. Evans is likely to spend a lot of time in the G League as a rookie, because the Wolves simply do not have a spot for him in the regular rotation right now. Beyond getting his jumper back, he’ll need to find other ways to help if he wants to become a dependable complementary wing.
Adding strength would be a natural next step, especially if it helps him on defense. That would push him closer to a true 3-and-D profile instead of just a one-dimensional shooter.
The effort is there; the body just needs to catch up. He also showed a shot-creation jump as a sophomore at Duke, and if he can tighten his handle, there’s a route to becoming more than just a spot-up guy.
For now, though, the message from the final preseason game was simple: if Evans can keep shooting like he did in college, and like he did against Chicago, the Timberwolves may have found a second-round steal who earns a role down the road.
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