Why Timberwolves may part ways with Donte DiVincenzo after brutal injury

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The Minnesota Timberwolves put together another quality season, although in the loaded Western Conference, they'll have to continue to figure out how to improve.

They'll also have to try and retain emerging star Ayo Dosunmu, who is heading for unrestricted free agency. Sometimes, the best upgrade a team can make is simply keeping a promising player.

"Dosunmu arrived from the Chicago Bulls at the trade deadline and had an immediate impact, including a 43-point performance in a Game 4 win over the Denver Nuggets that came without injured stars Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo," ESPN's Tim Bontemps wrote on Thursday. "After the Timberwolves lost Nickeil Alexander-Walker last summer in free agency -- and after the 27-year-old guard was named 2026 Most Improved Player with the Atlanta Hawks -- Minnesota simply cannot afford to let Dosunmu walk. That's why sources around the league expect he will be back with the Wolves, but for a price slightly above the midlevel exception (roughly $15 million), which is what most rival teams could offer."

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Dosunmu was a star at Illinois who took different lengths of time to discover his various skills at the NBA level.

Now, though, he looks ready to be a key contributor to a good team.

As Bontemps mentions, the Timberwolves let Nickeil Alexander-Walker walk and watched him turn into a star in Atlanta. They don't want deja vu with Dosunmu.

The one problem could be money, but there's a solution: Donte DiVincenzo.

DiVincenzo tore his Achilles and probably won't play much, if at all, in the 2026-27 season. If the Wolves can clear his salary, that would help.

"(Signing Dosunmu) might require Minnesota to move off DiVincenzo, who will miss at least most of next season with a torn right Achilles, to avoid going into the second luxury tax apron," Bontemps writes.

It's a tough break for DiVincenzo, of course, who would've had a contract year in 2026-27 to prove himself if healthy but now won't get much or any chance to do that.

But the Timberwolves can only have so much empathy. They need to maximize their roster for the season ahead.

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