Timberwolves Keep Reaping Rewards From Ayo Dosunmu Trade

Dillingham should and likely will receive another opportunity in the NBA, but getting traded and waived so quickly after the Timberwolves trade speaks to the miracle it was that Minnesota was able to acquire Dosunmu with Dillingham going out as the primary value.

The Timberwolves could have been the team that was forced to salary-dump or waive Dillingham. Instead, they traded him for a young building block in their franchise, which was the original intent of going after Dillingham in the first place.

Timberwolves' Dosunmu-Dillingham trade adds another layer after latter's latest move

Looking back, Connelly and the Timberwolves made the correct decision to cut their losses with Dillingham. That choice looks even better today than it did in February.

At the trade deadline, with Dillingham's value continuing to plummet, Tim Connelly accepted the sunk cost that Dillingham had become and traded him, along with Leonard Miller and multiple second-round picks, to Chicago for Dosunmu.

In doing so, Connelly admitted his mistake in the decision to trade for Dillingham, something many general managers across the NBA may not have had the confidence or job security to do. Another GM may have doubled down on their mistake and leaned further into Dillingham at the expense of their current and future roster.

The idea behind initially drafting Dillingham was certainly sound. The Wolves had little financial flexibility to add talent. The draft provided an avenue to add a player who could be a long-term building block, so the Timberwolves traded future draft capital for a current one to acquire a player they thought would be their point guard of the future.

Yet, the decision to trade for Dillingham was a monumental swing-and-a-miss, one that had the potential to hold the Timberwolves hostage for multiple seasons and possibly longer. The Wolves were already low on draft capital and had seemingly wasted the team's only available first-round pick.

However, the pivot to Dosunmu has turned out to be a true saving grace.

Ayo Dosunmu feels at home in Minnesota

Dosunmu was outstanding for the Timberwolves down the stretch of the regular season and into the Playoffs, most notably with a 43-point performance in Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets. The Timberwolves rewarded him this offseason with a new five-year, $112 million deal.

With his contract status settled, Dosunmu is attending his first training camp in Minnesota, a place where he can now see himself building a life.

"I felt at home. I think that was the most important part," Dosunmu said of his decision this summer to return to Minnesota. "Anytime you go through free agency, you always have to envision yourself being here. Living here and, by the grace of God, maybe having kids here, growing up here, all that played a huge part into my decision."

Dosunmu went on to mention Minnesota's highly rated public school system as one of many reasons why the Twin Cities are a good place for him and his family and why he wanted to return for the long term.

Dosunmu, like his teammate DiVincenzo, gave credit to Connelly for fostering an environment where players can thrive and actively improve who they are as players and people.

"One thing Tim [Connelly] is very good, and I respect him about, he doesn't just always just tell you the good. Like he'll tell you the good, the bad, the ugly, the pretty. And as a competitor and as someone who wants to get better, that's someone that I want to be around."

Every NBA player speaks highly of the city they currently reside in, but with Dosunmu, it appears to be a genuine love for Minnesota and the Twin Cities. The Midwest kid who had spent his entire life in either Chicago or Champaign, Illinois, has found the place where he wants to be.

"This is home. This is where I wanted to be at all along."