Timberwolves moving Jeff Teague into bench role

The Minnesota Timberwolves are fully embracing their youth movement.

Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic reported on Monday that the team is moving former All-Star guard Jeff Teague to the bench and promoting rookie Jarrett Culver to the starting lineup. Krawczynski adds that Teague was open to the idea of leading the second unit, especially with Andrew Wiggins’ growth as an initiator this season.

Teague, 31, is still averaging an excellent 13.2 points and 7.7 assists per game this season but his usage rate is down to 19.8 percent. He is also shooting a subpar 26.7 percent from deep.

Culver is the guard of the future and should be a core part of their team for many years to come along with Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. With the amount of touches he will receive in a sixth man role though, Teague should not be worried about getting left behind (like he literally once was).