The Minnesota Timberwolves entered their Wednesday night tilt against the Phoenix Suns in real danger of falling to 5-7, and with the lack of effort they've displayed thus far to begin the year, with Anthony Edwards even calling out his team for being “soft“, it's not difficult to see why they're struggling in the early goings. With the Western Conference being as cutthroat as ever, the Timberwolves can ill-afford to lose focus, but it appears as if D'Angelo Russell didn't get the memo.

With Jaylen Nowell at the foul line, head coach Chris Finch took the opportunity to put Russell back in the game for Taurean Prince, with the Timberwolves trailing the Suns, 46-37. However, D-Lo wasn't aware that he was now the Timberwolves' fifth man on the court, as he remained near the scorer's table as the Suns brought the ball up the court.

D'Angelo Russell was still oblivious as the Suns worked the ball around and got an open corner three for Damion Lee, which promptly missed. Torrey Craig nabbed the offensive board, and D-Lo was still nowhere near the scene. Finally, something clicked for the Timberwolves point guard, as he made his way into the action, hands up, visibly confused, while watching Craig sink an open triple.

Per NBA Central:

It's perplexing as to how this could even happen. Don't the arena's public address announcers, you know, announce the fact that D'Angelo Russell, indeed, was put in the game? With the Timberwolves playing shorthanded, why didn't any members of the Timberwolves' coaching staff scream at D-Lo from the bottom of their lungs just to call his attention?

Russell will definitely grab headlines after this mess of a play, but the entire Timberwolves team deserves to be put on Shaqtin' A Fool for this one.

Alas, the misery just keeps piling on for the Timberwolves, as they are currently down by 16 to the Suns, 104-88, with 11 minutes to go in the payoff period. While it is still early in the season, the Timberwolves cannot afford to lose ground in the competitive West, and perhaps the Timberwolves could even look into dealing Russell, who is in the last year of his contract, should the need to shake things up arise later in the season.