Donte DiVincenzo’s return is starting to look like more than just wishful thinking for the Timberwolves.
DiVincenzo is still expected to miss the start of the season after tearing his Achilles, but the idea of him getting back on the floor during the 2026-27 campaign has picked up real momentum. On Chad Hartman’s WCCO radio show, Minnesota coach Chris Finch called that return “pretty likely.”
There’s even a path that points to a midseason comeback. Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum came back on March 6 after tearing his Achilles in May 2025, and because DiVincenzo’s injury came a few weeks earlier, a return around the All-Star break is on the table.
If that happens, Minnesota gets exactly what it has been missing: another shooter who can bend a defense and another scorer who can punish second units.
The Wolves were already dangerous from deep, with the Anthony Edwards-LaMelo Ball backcourt driving much of the damage. Add DiVincenzo into the mix, and the whole operation starts to look downright nasty.
Last season, Edwards and Ball both finished in the top six in 3-pointers made per game, while DiVincenzo was 17th. That’s a brutal amount of shooting to chase around for 48 minutes.
The good news for Minnesota is that shooting is one of the cleaner skills to project after an Achilles injury. Jayson Tatum didn’t instantly look like himself, but he still returned as an All-Star-level presence.
If DiVincenzo gets back to even 80 percent of what he was, that’s still a very useful player. And with Ball’s playmaking creating looks, he should get plenty of clean ones.
That kind of spacing could matter a lot in the West. The Houston Rockets, who finished bottom five in both 3s made and 3s attempted, don’t really have the firepower to match it. The Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, meanwhile, come with defensive issues of their own.
The bigger stylistic test comes against the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. The thinking here is simple: if you want to take away the rim protection edge of Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren, you need elite shooting.
Minnesota can bother both teams already, but DiVincenzo raises the ceiling. Even if the Spurs and Thunder are more complete teams overall, neither one should be eager to see the Wolves in a playoff series.
And then there’s the bench.
That’s where DiVincenzo could be especially valuable. Ayo Dosunmu is already viewed as a high-end super-sub, but beyond him, the Wolves are leaning on a lot of unproven pieces.
Joan Beringer and Terrence Shannon Jr. are both talented, but still unproven. If they take a step forward and DiVincenzo helps bring back Minnesota’s old eight-starter feel, that changes the shape of the roster fast.
If not, he can still steady the second unit as another reliable scorer.
There’s also a path where the Timberwolves end up with nine high-end rotation players once he’s back. That would depend on growth from Beringer and Shannon, though Jaylen Clark or Bones Hyland could also end up making bigger contributions than expected.
Either way, DiVincenzo gives Minnesota more ways to hurt teams. More shooting.
More scoring. More lineup options.
And because his game is built on a skill that should survive the injury, the Wolves have every reason to feel optimistic about what comes next.
In Other News...
Chris Finch Just Framed The Wolves Biggest Playoff Debate
Chris Finch has started putting language to one of the biggest questions hovering over Minnesotas roster-building as the playoffs get closer: how much can a team lean on one ball-dominant engine before the bracket starts exposing the limits. The Timberwolves coach pointed to the challenge of building around heliocentric guards, making clear that the most dangerous teams in the postseason usually have more than one way to generate offense and more than one player who can take the load.
For Minnesota, that idea has a direct impact on how the Wolves want to use Anthony Edwards and the pieces around him. Finch said the team is moving away from asking a single primary playmaker to carry everything, and the addition of LaMelo Ball gives them another route to keep the offense moving. The bigger goal is straightforward enough: create a deeper, more interchangeable roster that can hold up when the games tighten and the best defenses start taking away the first option. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Back-End Roster Battle Just Claimed Another Camp Hopeful
Training camp rosters around the league are still taking shape, and the Timberwolves have already entered that phase with a full 21-man group. Minnesotas latest camp mix includes KJ Martin, Drew Timme, Norchad Omier and Antonio Reeves on non-guaranteed contracts, the kind of low-risk additions that give the front office a chance to take a longer look before decisions get real. For a team that wants its depth chart to stay flexible, these are the familiar September names that can quietly shape the edges of the season.
The Wolves are not alone in sorting through those back-end auditions. Around the league, the Wizards added Reece Beekman, Trevor Keels and Chris Livingston on Exhibit 10 deals while waiving KeShawn Murphy, the Nets cut Nick Pringle, the Clippers waived Jason Preston and Hunter Sallis, and the Pistons brought in Brice Williams on an Exhibit 10 contract. In Minnesota, the interesting part is not just who showed up for camp, but which of those non-guaranteed invites can make enough of an impression to stick when the roster starts getting trimmed. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Face A Costly Jaden McDaniels Decision On October 1
Jaden McDaniels has become one of the more intriguing pieces of Minnesotas long-term puzzle, and the Timberwolves are getting close to a decision point on whether to keep him in place for the foreseeable future. His value is easy to understand: he brings elite defensive impact, and his offensive game has taken enough of a step forward that he now looks like the kind of two-way wing contenders hate to lose.
The comparison to OG Anunoby is part of what makes this conversation so interesting for Minnesota, because players with McDaniels blend of size, versatility and upward trajectory rarely come cheap. The Wolves are expected to weigh the cost against the benefit of locking in a core defender who is still improving, but for now there has been no official extension announcement, leaving the key question hanging just ahead of the fall. [Read more 🡒]