Terrence Shannon Jr. has already shown enough to make the idea of a leap in Minnesota feel real. The Timberwolves wing was up and down during the regular season, but when injuries forced him into a bigger playoff role, he flashed the kind of scoring burst that gets people talking. He finished those playoffs averaging 11.8 points, and his biggest moment came in the 24-point outing that helped close out the Denver Nuggets in the first round.
After that game, Chris Finch said the staff simply took too long to realize Shannon is at his best when the ball is in his hands. That admission matters, because it opens the door to a bigger role next season. Shannon is healthy, the coaching staff has a clearer read on what he does well, and the setup seems ripe for a breakout.
But there’s a catch: giving Shannon more on-ball responsibility might not actually be the best move for the Timberwolves.
On paper, he could fit as a sixth man and operate as a creator with the second unit. In practice, that role won’t exist in a vacuum. Shannon is expected to share the floor plenty with LaMelo Ball or Anthony Edwards, which complicates the idea of turning him loose as a primary ball-handler.
Yes, both Ball and Edwards can work off the ball. But should Minnesota really shift more of that burden away from them to make room for Shannon? The same question applies to other guards on the roster, including Ayo Dosunmu and Bones Hyland, with Dosunmu standing out as the stronger candidate for on-ball work while still being able to function away from it.
Shannon’s upside is obvious. He can score in a hurry and bring real downhill pressure.
But right now, he’s still inconsistent and inefficient, and that makes it tough to hand him a large creator’s load without more proof. If the Wolves want him to own a sixth-man role with major on-ball duties, he has to clean up those rough edges.
His passing and overall decision-making also need to sharpen if he’s going to thrive that way. The problem is that his off-ball game isn’t polished enough to make that the easy answer either. He shot 34 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s last year, and that leaves him in a tricky spot: his best trait is getting to the rim, but his spot-up shooting hasn’t been strong enough to make him a seamless off-ball weapon.
There is a path where Shannon makes his biggest impact in transition, where his speed can really matter, while spending more of the half-court possessions away from the ball. That would be the cleanest compromise. Even then, he’d have to actively hunt those transition chances and keep improving without the ball.
It’s also fair to note that the “off-ball a ton” label may be overstated. Even with Finch’s comments, Shannon ranked in the 62nd percentile for on-ball usage per Databallr. Bennedict Mathurin, a useful high-end comparison for Shannon, was on the ball only 3 percent more.
So the real question may be less about whether Shannon can get more on-ball chances and more about whether there are enough of them to matter. With the Timberwolves’ perimeter depth and their more established creators, the answer might be no.
Shannon should still see more minutes, and it would be a surprise if he doesn’t top 5.6 points per game. But a true breakout season? That feels a lot less certain than it did after that playoff burst.
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