Donte DiVincenzo Trade Rumors: Silenced!

The Minnesota Timberwolves have had a rough start to the 2024-25 NBA season, currently sitting at 8-7 heading into Sunday afternoon’s road matchup with the Boston Celtics. Newly acquired pieces Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo have put up some stats but still don’t seem quite comfortable in their new threads after being traded from the New York Knicks to Minnesota this past offseason.

Recently, there were some rumblings that DiVincenzo could be a candidate to be on the move once again if things don’t turn around quickly, but now, NBA insider Marc Stein is hitting those rumors with a reality check, per his account on Substack.

“I saw all kinds of Twitter chatter Friday about the supposed status of Minnesota’s Donte DiVincenzo as a trade target for contending teams,” reported Stein. “That runs counter to everything I’ve heard about the Wolves, who wanted DiVincenzo for more than a year before they actually acquired him and are said to have zero interest in fielding inquiries for him not yet three full months into his Wolves tenure.”

DiVincenzo was brought in along with Randle in a trade centered around Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, who has gotten off to an excellent start to his tenure with his new team.

Can the Timberwolves turn things around?

Of course, there is plenty of time for the Timberwolves’ new weapons to get acclimated to their new team and start to turn things around. However, the early returns haven’t been particularly encouraging, as the team currently sits just a game over .500 following a frustrating recent loss to the Toronto Raptors on the road.

In that game, there appeared to be some potential chemistry issues out on the court, as center Rudy Gobert sealed his defender on a late possession but didn’t receive a pass from Randle, then got called for a three second violation, prompting a brief scolding from star player Anthony Edwards. It was the Timberwolves 20th (!) straight loss on the road vs the Raptors, dating back to the 2004 season.

DiVincenzo has had a bit of a cold start to the season beyond the three point line, where he was one of the league’s best last year, but there is still plenty of time for those percentages to go up, particularly as he gets more comfortable with the offense that head coach Chris Finch is trying to run.

In any case, after the game vs the Celtics, the Timberwolves will next take the field on Tuesday at home vs the Houston Rockets.