A big decision looms in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are walking into a messy offseason, and most of it traces back to two guards.
One they badly want to keep.
The other they might have to give up just to make the keeping possible.
After a 49-33 regular season that ended with a second-round exit, the front office now has to re-sign Ayo Dosunmu without tripping into the second luxury tax apron, which is the spot that would handcuff them on every move for the rest of the summer.
The name that keeps coming up in that math is Donte DiVincenzo, and nobody in the building sounds thrilled about it.
ESPN's Tim Bontemps put it about as bluntly as it gets, writing that "Minnesota simply cannot afford to let Dosunmu walk."
His reporting has league sources expecting Dosunmu back at a number slightly above the midlevel exception, somewhere around $15 million a year, and paying that might mean shipping out DiVincenzo to stay under the apron.
The Case for Making the Move
Dosunmu was a genuine find after coming over from Chicago at the deadline, and Minnesota has no interest in repeating the Nickeil Alexander-Walker mistake, where a useful guard walked for nothing and then turned into a problem somewhere else.
In 24 regular-season games with the Wolves he averaged 14.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists on 52.1 percent shooting, then he got better in the playoffs.
President Tim Connelly already called him the team's most important free agent, which tells the league how the front office ranks the priority.
The part that makes a trade go down easier is the injury.
DiVincenzo tore his Achilles and is likely out most or all of next season, so moving his salary costs Minnesota a contract more than it costs them minutes on the floor.
The Case for Standing Pat
DiVincenzo started all 82 games and gave Minnesota 12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists a night with elite shooting from deep before he went down.
Local reporters like Jon Krawczynski have pushed back on the idea that signing Dosunmu automatically pushes DiVincenzo out the door, pointing out there are a lot of moving parts this summer.
A bigger swing involving someone like Julius Randle or Rudy Gobert could rearrange the whole board.
There is also the human side.
Trading a guy fresh off a brutal injury is a rough look in a locker room, especially one who has been part of two good Minnesota teams.
So there is no right answer, and the Wolves probably will not have one until the rest of the Western Conference offseason gets moving.
Keeping Dosunmu is the part they have already decided.
How they pay for it is the question that is going to define the next stretch of the Edwards era, and for a team trying to climb back up the playoff picture, the DiVincenzo call is the one they keep circling.
