Donte DiVincenzoThe rocky start with that Timberwolves reached a new low when he was benched in an overtime loss to Houston on Tuesday night, he writes Jenna Lemoncelli of the New York Post. DiVincenzo played an important role in helping the Knicks reach the playoffs last season, but has not been able to settle into that role since moving to Minnesota shortly before the start of training camp.
DiVincenzo is averaging 9.2 PPG while shooting 35.1% from the field and 32.2% from distance, a significant decrease from what he posted in New York. His playing time was inconsistent and barely a month into the season he was already the subject of trade rumors. He left Tuesday's game for good midway through the third quarter and ended up scoring just three points in 15 minutes.
However, in his latest Substack columnMarc Stein reported that the Wolves had been trying to sign DiVincenzo for more than a year and now had no interest in listening to trade offers for him.
There's more from the Northwest Division:
- Frustrations in the Twin Cities continued to grow tonight as Sacramento held a late rally and handed victory Timberwolves their fourth defeat in a row. Anthony Edwards believes there is a problem with the team's attitude to the game, Tweets Chris Hine of The Star-Tribune. “We stood up and everyone was cheering and really excited.” Edwards said. “We’ll go back downstairs and say nothing to anyone. That is the definition of a front runner. We as a team, myself included, were all top performers tonight.”
- Jeremiah Grant is that Trailblazer Player most likely to be traded before the February deadline Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report States in a mailbag column. Highkin picks Grant because, at 30, he's too old to be part of the team's long-term foundation, but he's still productive enough to help a contender. Highkin added that Grant is a “known quantity” around the league and his contract will become more reasonable once money comes in from the new television rights deal and the salary cap is raised.
- thunder trainer Mark Daigneault should stop using rookie swingman Dillon Jones as a small-ball center, argues Rylan Stiles from Sports Illustrated. Stiles claims Jones hasn't shown the ability to handle that role and advocates for those minutes to be done Kenrich Williams.
