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Terrence Shannon Jr. Ends His G League Rehab Stint With a Bang

Shannon has been recalled to Minnesota's roster and could be a factor off the bench after the All-Star break.
Will Ragatz|
Dec 12, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon Jr. (1) warms up before the game against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center.
Dec 12, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon Jr. (1) warms up before the game against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. | Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

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Minnesota Timberwolves

As they enter the All-Star break, the Timberwolves have recalled second-year guard Terrence Shannon Jr. after a two-game rehab assignment with the Iowa Wolves in the G League.

Shannon, who hasn't played for Minnesota since Christmas Day due to a foot injury, shook off some rust in his first game with Iowa on Tuesday. He played 20 minutes in that game and scored 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting to go with 6 assists and 4 turnovers.

One night later, Shannon looked like himself again. On Wednesday, in another Iowa loss against the Austin Spurs, TJ went off for 36 points on 10-of-15 shooting in 21 minutes. He hit a couple threes on six tries, made all nine of his free-throw attempts, and was a +6 in a 15-point loss. (Wolves rookie Rocco Zikarsky, who we wrote about this week, had 15 points, 13 boards, and 4 blocks).

As we saw a couple times during his rookie season, Shannon is way too good for the G League.

When the Wolves chose to keep Julius Randle and Naz Reid over Nickeil Alexander-Walker this past offseason, Shannon became the obvious candidate to step up and have a consistently larger role in his second season. The 27th overall pick out of Illinois two years ago is already 25 years old and showed some big-time flashes as a rookie, including in the Western Conference Finals against the Thunder.

But things haven't gone to plan for Shannon so far this year. He missed a few weeks in November due to a foot injury, then returned for around a month, only to suffer a setback and be sidelined for well over a month. In 22 games so far, he's averaged just 12.8 minutes and 4.5 points per game on sub-40 percent shooting.

However, there's still plenty of reason to believe that Shannon can be an impactful part of the Wolves' bench group down the stretch of this season. He's a menace in transition who should fit nicely alongside fellow Chicago native and Illinois product Ayo Dosunmu. Shannon has also made 38 percent of his career threes in the NBA, albeit on a small sample size (26 of 68).

Terrence Shannon Jr.
Terrence Shannon Jr. | Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Moving forward, it's clear that the Wolves' top seven consists of their five current starters, Naz Reid, and Dosunmu. Beyond that, head coach Chris Finch can turn to some combination of Bones Hyland, Jaylen Clark, and Shannon based on matchups, situations, and production. Joan Beringer is also available if the Wolves need another big.

That might just be a rotation that can win an NBA championship.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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