{"id":192888,"date":"2026-04-27T07:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=192888"},"modified":"2026-04-27T09:26:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:26:01","slug":"timberwolves-52-million-ayo-dosunmu-decision-just-got-more-expensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/04\/27\/timberwolves-52-million-ayo-dosunmu-decision-just-got-more-expensive\/","title":{"rendered":"Timberwolves $52 Million Priority Decision Just Got More Expensive"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 The Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> are up 3-1 in their NBA Playoff first-round series against the Denver Nuggets<\/a> after a 112-96 victory on Saturday night. Minnesota is one game away from completing an upset against a Denver team that many considered a juggernaut. According to playoff history, teams that take a 3\u20131 series lead go on to win about 95% of the time. Only 13 teams have ever come back from a 3\u20131 deficit, with the most recent example being Denver during the 2020 bubble. What this suggests is that Minnesota have put themselves in a very strong position to close out the series. However, they are now dealing with two key absences that could derail their championship aspirations in the short term. Looking further ahead, Ayo Dosunmu<\/a> stands to gain more opportunities as a result of those absences, but that raises a bigger question: how will this ripple into the Timberwolves\u2019 already tight financial outlook as they inch closer to the league\u2019s second apron?<\/p>\n

Timberwolves $52 Million Ayo Dosunmu Decision Just Got More Expensive<\/h2>\n

Donte DiVincenzo\u2019s Devastating Injury<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Apr 25, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo (0) and Crunch, the Minnesota Timberwolves mascot, warm up before the game against the Denver Nuggets at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Timberwolves starting guard Donte DiVincenzo<\/a> left Game 4 after just a minute. ESPN insider Shams Charania revealed before the game ended that DiVincenzo had suffered a torn right Achilles tendon<\/a>. That rules him out for the season and begins a lengthy recovery process. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch on losing DiVincenzo: \u201cCompletely devastating for Donte. He\u2019s had such a great season. He\u2019s the heart and soul of so many things that we do. You could see the look in his eye when it happened and you knew. We\u2019ll love him and be there for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

DiVincenzo was having a stellar series before his devastating injury. As if that wasn’t bad enough for the franchise, things got worse before intermission. Anthony Edwards<\/a> sustained what looked like a hyperextension after taking a knee-to-knee shot on a Cam Johnson<\/a> drive. An MRI will revealed a bone bruise and a left knee hypertension. Edwards is set to miss weeks. He was already dealing with runner’s knee on his right leg before these injuries.<\/p>\n

Ayo Dosunmu Steps Up<\/h3>\n

Pulling off a win over Denver without DiVincenzo and Edwards in the second half was impressive and gives them a fighting chance. Dosunmu was key to the win with a playoff career-high 43 points, going 13-of-17 from the floor and not missing any of his five 3-point attempts. He was just 2 points off the 45-point record by Fred Brown of the returning Seattle SuperSonics<\/a>. From a move made at the trade deadline to shore up the Timberwolves’ bench, Ayo Dosunmu is now key to their hopes. He will start at the shooting guard position to replace Edwards.<\/p>\n

The absence of the Wolves’ starting backcourt will be a huge miss; this goes without saying. It primarily affects the team in two ways: shot creation and shooting. Dosunmu showed his ability to get to his spots in Game 4. The question is whether he can recreate it in Games 5, 6, or 7 when the Nuggets have him higher up on the whiteboard as a priority.<\/p>\n

Dosunmu was already a crucial piece of Minnesota’s rotation before this rash of injuries, one of five players in double-digit points. Now, with Donte and Edwards watching from the sidelines, Dosunmu will be thrust into a near-star role. He will be asked to carry a considerable load going forward alongside Julius Randle<\/a> and Jaden McDaniels.<\/a><\/p>\n

Contract Implications Moving Forward<\/h3>\n

Beyond the postseason, the Timberwolves have a big decision to make on Ayo Dosunmu’s future. He can sign a veteran extension of up to three years, $52.4 million before June 30 in a few months. That deal felt fair for Dosunmu’s value. With a bigger load in the playoffs on the horizon, could he play so well that he prices himself out of Minneapolis? The Wolves don’t want a repeat of the Nickeil Alexander-Walker<\/a> situation, where they let him walk to avoid the second apron. While Minnesota wants to keep him, they project to be about $30 million away from the second apron line. A deal with an average value above $20 million will leave the Wolves very close to the apron, with Bones Hyland<\/a>, Mike Conley<\/a>, and Kyle Anderson<\/a> all expiring as well. Dosunmu’s continued emergence could be the difference between Minnesota being a second-apron team or not.<\/p>\n

Feel free to reach out to me on X\/Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 The Minnesota Timberwolves are up 3-1 in their NBA Playoff first-round series against the Denver Nuggets after a 112-96 victory on Saturday night. Minnesota is one game away from completing an upset against a Denver team that many considered a juggernaut. According to playoff history, teams that take a 3\u20131 series lead go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":192909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,21,3],"tags":[50432,2109,3967,1553,50251],"class_list":["post-192888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-timberwolves","category-news","tag-2026-nba-playoffs","tag-anthony-edwards","tag-ayo-dosunmu","tag-donte-divincenzo","tag-nba-contract"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192888"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192922,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192888\/revisions\/192922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}