That is certainly a possibility. I planted mine on a vertical trellis in a spot where it could not latch on to anything else and it is quite a lengthy vine. The shadow it cast (given the orientation of it) was diagonal and did not shade anything for too lengthy a time.

Yeah, the malabar could shade out your other plants, but once the malabar sets seeds, it dies pretty quickly.

So the key would be to harvest regularly to eat it, maintain shade control and prevent bolting for a longer growing season.

;)