Cody Williams had a pretty clear opening to make his case for a bigger role with the Minnesota Timberwolves this week. He just didn’t do much with it.

With Terrence Shannon Jr. sidelined by a hip injury, Williams finally had a chance to see meaningful minutes Monday against the Milwaukee Bucks. Instead, he played just 6:37, missed his only shot and finished with one rebound. His minus-15 was the worst mark on the team.

The bigger issue, however, was what happened after that.

Cody Williams wasted a golden Timberwolves opportunity

Williams didn’t get another chance to respond.

Shannon remained out Wednesday against the Houston Rockets, but Williams was a DNP-CD as Minnesota stuck with its regular rotation. Williams was then left on the bench again Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans, despite Shannon missing his third consecutive game.

Monday was supposed to be the type of game that could help him change the conversation for him. Sadly, Williams struggled to find a rhythm and never really gave the Timberwolves a reason to keep him on the floor by recording 0 points, one rebound and logging a -15 plus-minus, the worst mark on the entire team in just seven minutes of action.

The 6-foot-5 forward entered the campaign with some reason for optimism after a promising preseason. Minnesota added him this summer in the Josh Green trade, giving the former lottery pick another opportunity to establish himself after a difficult start to his NBA career. There was also a pretty obvious path to minutes.

Anthony Edwards is sidelined, Shannon has been unavailable and Minnesota has needed players to take on more responsibility around LaMelo Ball, Jonathan Kuminga and Ayo Dosunmu. Williams didn’t need to suddenly become a major contributor. He just needed to show enough to stay on the floor. He wasn’t able to do that Monday. Now the Timberwolves have gone two straight games without putting him into the game at all.

That’s particularly notable because Minnesota’s bench rotation has not been completely set yet. The team has still been searching for the right combinations around its core, which should theoretically create opportunities for a player like Williams.

Jaylen Clark, Bones Hyland, Trey Lyles and others have continued getting those minutes and showing much more reasons they deserve time on the floor, while Williams watches from the sideline.

That doesn’t mean Minnesota has given up on him yet. It’s still early in the season, and one rough outing isn’t enough to write off a player who is only beginning his second NBA season. Williams has time especially with Joan Beringer going down and the rotation keeps getting deeper down the roster.

But Williams really needed Monday night to be the start of something. Right now, honestly, it looks more like a missed opportunity.

For a player fighting and clawing to earn consistent minutes in this league, that’s about as tough of a development as he could have gotten this early in the year.