Ayo Dosunmu hasn’t done as much winning as he’d like in his NBA career.
He made the playoffs during his rookie year with the Chicago Bulls in 2022, but the Milwaukee Bucks dispatched them in five games. Since then, the Bulls have had a record below .500, and Dosunmu hasn’t been back to the postseason.
When Dosunmu became aware on Thursday morning that the Bulls were trading him to the Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the first things that entered his mind was the ability to play for a team with championship aspirations.
“As a competitor, it’s nothing more you can ask for [then] to put yourself in a position to be able to play meaningful basketball,” Dosunmu told reporters at Target Center during his introductory press conference. “That’s a goal that I wrote down before the season started that, by the grace of God, I’ll be playing in the playoffs this year.”
Any competitive team can use Dosunmu’s hard-nosed, efficient playstyle, especially the Timberwolves, who’ve desperately lacked that type of play all season. But Dosunmu isn’t joining a Wolves team that looks like they’re on a championship path. He’s joining a team in a rut that Dosunmu can’t possibly dig out of on his own.
On Sunday afternoon, Dosunmu made his Timberwolves debut against the Los Angeles Clippers. Fans gave him a standing ovation as he checked in for the first time. But by the end, some of those fans booed their team as the Wolves fell 115-96.
Dosunmu fills many of the holes that Minnesota has had this season. His energy never wavers, he is a comfortable ball handler, and he shoots 45% from three. But Dosunmu is still adjusting to a new team after being traded for the first time in his career.
After his pregame warmups on Sunday, Dosunmu headed down the wrong tunnel and needed an usher to point him toward the players’ tunnel behind Minnesota’s bench.
“I told him not to overthink it,” Chris Finch said on Friday. “Just kind of do the things you’ve been doing. We’ll go from there. There is a ready-made role sitting there for him, and we are just going to plug him right into it.”
Dosunmu sat out of Friday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans, where the Wolves let an 18-point third-quarter lead evaporate as they lost 119-115 to a Pelicans squad with 40 losses. As Dosunmu watched from the bench, his ready-made role was obvious — play with pace on offense and bring energy on defense.
“There’s just no effort,” said Rudy Gobert after Friday’s loss. “We’ve seen that many, many times this year, the last few years since I’ve been here. We always know it’s coming, and when it comes, there’s no sense of urgency. No accountability. So I think at some point, if the players don’t have accountability, someone else gotta have accountability for the players. I’m just talking straight effort.”
Since Jan. 16, the Wolves are 5-8. In that span, they’ve had the 21st-ranked offensive rating (113.4) and 15th-ranked defensive rating (114.0). Five* of those eight losses have been to teams with records under .500. Regular-season swoons are somewhat typical, especially this close to the All-Star break. But as Gobert points out, Minnesota’s issues with bringing consistent effort have become too common over the last few years.
Last season, Nickeil Alexander-Walker provided a jolt off the bench when the Wolves desperately needed one. So far this season — especially since Jan. 16 — it has become more apparent that the Wolves could benefit from a fast-paced, hard-nosed guard who could check into games and change momentum.
On Sunday, Dosunmu finished with 11 points in 25 minutes. He shot 4 of 11 from the floor, 3 of 7 from deep, and had two steals. His first steal led to his first bucket in a Timberwolves uniform — a transition layup that ignited a roar from the crowd. Finch probably hopes that those types of sequences will spark the Wolves to comeback wins. But on Sunday, that did not happen, and Dosunmu will never be able to do it alone.
“I thought he was appropriately aggressive,” Finch said postgame. “I thought he did a lot of good things. Obviously, not the result we had hoped for, but his debut for us was very, very encouraging.”
Dosunmu did about as well as Finch could have expected in his debut. He wasn’t his usual efficient self. Still, he remained aggressive with the ball in his hands and played attentive defense.
However, the Wolves were collectively dejected for most of the game. They shot 45% from the floor, 24% from three, had 20 turnovers to 17 assists, and consistently blew defensive coverages. Jaden McDaniels shot 1 of 4, and Donte DiVincenzo went 0 of 3.
Poor shooting games are inevitable. But far too often, when the Wolves have an off night offensively, they compound it with complacency, stop moving the ball, and become disconnected on defense.
No single player, even a perfect fit like Dosunmu, can correct that simply by bringing energy.
After acquiring Dosunmu, Tim Connelly told the media that he believes the Wolves have a real “puncher’s chance” to win the championship.
But right now, the Timberwolves are sixth in the Western Conference. They have 28 games left. The trade deadline has passed. The Wolves will ride this roster to the finish line this season. With Dosunmu, they are much more well-rounded than before. And Sunday’s debacle isn’t indicative of what this team is capable of going forward.
However, over the last month, the Wolves haven’t looked like a team with championship aspirations. Dosunmu will almost certainly play meaningful playoff basketball again this season.
But the Wolves can’t focus on that right now. It’s time they figure out how to collectively dig out of this rut and start fine-tuning the operation as the postseason draws closer. Perhaps that happens after the All-Star break. Still, with Alexander Walker and the Atlanta Hawks in town Monday night, the Wolves should use it as an opportunity to start their dig right now.
*An earlier version of this post said the Wolves had six losses to teams under .500. We regret the error.
