NBA Insider officially denies the ludicrous Timberwolves trade rumor

The 2024-25 season hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Admittedly, making a major trade less than four weeks before the start of the season is a decision that will make life difficult for any team. But the Wolves have endured public struggles that have left many wondering about the team’s future.

Fortunately, Anthony Edwards has made it clear that this team’s biggest problem by far is a mental block. When faced with high-level competition, they seem to be able to flip a switch and compete extremely hard. For now, they are still working on being able to bring this intensity against the bottom teams in the league.

Meanwhile, there have been suggestions from fans about what trades should be made, as well as other rumors from random corners of the internet. This past week, one of those rumors gained serious traction, namely that the Timberwolves might be willing to trade Donte DiVincenzo, who of course they had just acquired in the Karl Anthony Towns trade.

Now NBA insider Marc Stein has stepped in to clear up any confusion on the subject. Stein writes in his latest publication on Sunday (subscription required):

I saw all sorts of Twitter chatter on Friday about the rumored status of Minnesota’s Donte DiVincenzo as a trade target for contending teams. This flies in the face of everything I’ve heard about the Wolves, who wanted DiVincenzo for more than a year before actually acquiring him and reportedly had no interest in fielding requests for him not even three full months after Start of his Wolves tenure.

Considering how well-connected Stein is in the NBA world and considering his credibility record, the rumor that DiVincenzo is a potential trade partner seems like a real hoot. That seems to make a lot more sense than the idea that they wanted to move on from him.

Donte may have had trouble shooting the ball in the first month of his tenure in Minnesota, but completely giving up on a great shooter because he’s in a November slump is a completely ridiculous idea. DiVincenzo’s shot distributions will eventually return to normal and he still needs to get used to his new teammates.

It’s also worth noting that Stein reports that the Timberwolves “had wanted DiVincenzo for more than a year” before trading for him. That obviously means president Tim Connelly had a vision for Donte on this team, and it’s highly unlikely that DiVincenzo did anything over the course of 16 games to completely change Connelly’s mind.