Timberwolves pivot off disastrous trade for lottery pick

Dillingham is just one of the Timberwolves' disappointing young bench players. Second-year wing Terrence Shannon Jr. averages only 4.5 points. Like Dillingham, he's shooting worse on three-pointers than on two-pointers. Second-year guard Jaylen Clark has been worse on defense this season and seen his three-point percentage drop from 43.1 percent to 26.9 percent.

Minnesota Timberwolves learned a costly lesson about team building

The Timberwolves went forward with a young and inexperienced bench in part due to the big salaries elsewhere on the roster. Anthony Edwards makes $45.6M, Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle make over $30M and Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid make over $20M. If the young players become reliable, it's a cheap way to keep talent for a team pushing against the luxury-tax aprons.

But it's hard to develop a group of players all at once while still pushing deep into the playoffs. Clark was a late second-round pick and Shannon was a late first, but Dillingham was the No. 8 pick in the 2024 draft and cost the Wolves their 2030 first-rounder and a pick swap in 2031. It was a very costly misfire.

At least they dealt with the mistake decisively. The Timberwolves got a versatile defender and ball handler in Dosunmu who is having the best shooting year of his career (45.1 3P%). He slides into the role the departed Nickeil Alexander-Walker filled last season and should be able to juice bench scoring more than Dillingham and Shannon.

Ultimately, they're down two first-rounders for the Dillingham trade and four second-rounders in the Dosunmu deal. All the while, there was an easy solution: simply re-sign Alexander-Walker last summer.

The Timberwolves didn't want to spend the money, and now they'll be paying in draft capital instead. Dillingham was an expensive mistake they'll be paying for into the next decade.