Ayo Dosunmu has found a home with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He brought his Chicago grit with him.
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Throughout much of the summer, and for the entirety of the fall, Anthony Edwards could feel a different energy when he showed up for work at the Minnesota Timberwolves’ practice facility.
As the unquestioned face of the franchise, Edwards has the run of the place. His voice is often the loudest. His swagger is unmatched, and often unchallenged. Until recently.
Every time Edwards stepped on the court for an open run, and every time the team has gone at it during training camp, Ayo Dosunmu has been right in Edwards’ grille. He has a new contract and an increased familiarity with the team that brought him in at the February trade deadline last season.
Since then, Dosunmu has been hell-bent on making his presence felt.
“It’s fun, man. Not many guys talk trash back to me, so having somebody like him on my team — not against me — is super great,” Edwards said of Dosunmu.
Listen to anyone describe the Wolves’ vibes, and a common theme has been Dosunmu’s assertiveness. After coming over in a trade from the Chicago Bulls, he took his time to settle into a new environment and learn about his new teammates. He watched and listened much more than he spoke in the early going.
Any deference Dosunmu gave to those who arrived in Minnesota before him is gone now.
He has been glued to Edwards in team scrimmages, pushing him, challenging him and meeting every spicy verbal response from the face of the franchise with one of his own. For a team looking to reclaim its status as a contender in the Western Conference, Dosunmu is taking the task of stoking the fire personally.
Dosunmu scored 10 points and had three assists in 21 minutes of Minnesota’s 123-112 to preseason loss to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.
“Now, I feel like I’m established in terms of being in the organization, understanding the offense and defense so now I can be more vocal,” Dosunmu said. “I just want to do whatever it takes to help the team win. I want to do whatever it takes vocally, stepping up as a leader, holding each other accountable.”
In most offseasons, and on most teams, Dosunmu signing a five-year, $112 million contract would represent the biggest and most important move of the summer. On this Timberwolves team, during what was a whirlwind summer, bringing back a key piece of the puzzle who put up 43 points in a playoff game was overshadowed by a dizzying amount of roster reconstruction by president of basketball operations Tim Connelly.
Connelly went and got a new starting point guard. He fought to secure a new starting power forward. He also said goodbye to Naz Reid, one of the team’s most popular players, and Julius Randle, the No. 2 option for the previous two seasons.
All of the changes have led to a palpable freshness in Wolves training camp this fall. LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga have brought a new energy to the practices and workouts, a change that was probably needed after the Wolves hit a wall in the second round of the playoffs.
While Dosunmu is a returning player, he is showing a different side of himself — the side that was instilled in him by the city in which he was raised.
“He’s from Chicago, so he brings that grittiness, that toughness that I love, that we’ve needed for years,” Edwards said.
Dosunmu is as Chicago as they come. He was born there and won two state high school championships while playing for Morgan Park. He stayed close to home to play college ball at Illinois and then spent his first 4 1/2 seasons in the league with the Bulls.
His hometown team decided it did not want to break the bank to extend him, so the Bulls traded him to Minnesota for Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller and some draft capital. The move from an Eastern Conference non-factor to a West playoff team invigorated Dosunmu. A calf injury forced him to be cautious both late in the regular season and in the playoffs, but he still managed some big moments.
Dosunmu had 18 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists in a win over the Dallas Mavericks in March. He had 25 points and nine assists in a Game 3 win over the Denver Nuggets in the first round and erupted for 43 points on 13-for-17 shooting in Game 4 after Donte DiVincenzo left with a torn right Achilles tendon.
The Wolves had some mild concerns early in the process that they could lose Dosunmu to another team in free agency. But after some back-and-forth, they hammered out a deal. Dosunmu’s contract came before the Ball trade and long before Kuminga’s signing, proving that it was a priority for the Wolves to get done.
Now Dosunmu, who got engaged this summer, is talking about raising a family in Minnesota and being there for the long haul.
“I feel very established. I feel blessed,” Dosunmu said. “This is home. This is where I wanted to be all along.”
The Wolves will need a lot more than just his voice if they are going to take a run at the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder in the West. Dosunmu will be the sixth man, taking Reid’s role, and he will be relied upon to give them juice off the bench and be another dogged perimeter defender on a team that now has a few of them.
“It was huge to get him back. We just need him,” coach Chris Finch said. “His role is elevated from last year in that we need him to do the same — more explosive, more scoring, more end to end.”
Dosunmu does more than just talk trash to the biggest star in town. He is constantly asking Jaylen Clark if he got his shooting in for the day, emphasizing the importance of consistency and discipline. Providing that serious undertone has been a nice complement to the more fun-loving side of the Wolves.
“He leads by example,” Clark said. “Now, I understand how he works and that he sees that I work, me and him have a great relationship.
But if you are a BS-er, he ain’t gonna be your type of guy.”
Dosunmu averaged 14.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and shot 41 percent from 3 after coming over from Chicago. At the time, he was playing not only to get to the playoffs, but to cement a long-term contract. Both boxes were checked, and now, Dosunmu has even more incentive to deliver for the Wolves.
“I want to look back in three years and they say, ‘Oh, that was a steal of a contract,’” he said. “I’m even more locked in, because now I feel like it’s more responsibility for me just to go out there and compete and give it my all and help this organization ultimately win a championship.”
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Jon Krawczynski is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Minnesota Timberwolves, the NBA and the Minnesota Vikings. Jon joined The Athletic after 16 years at The Associated Press, where he covered three Olympics, three NBA Finals, two Ryder Cups and the 2009 NFC Championship Game. You can follow Jon on X @JonKrawczynski.
