Donte DiVincenzo's role should be crystal clear for the 2025-26 season

There has been a lot of recent chatter regarding Donte DiVincenzo. Most of it stems from his dropping out of EuroBasket after apparently re-injuring his left big toe, as DiVincenzo was scheduled to play for Italy. That left big toe forced the guard to miss more than a month last season in January/February.

What hasn’t been talked about much is the 28-year-old being inserted into Minnesota’s starting lineup for next season. One Timberwolves analyst believes that’s what should happen, and he wants DiVincenzo to be the Wolves' starting point guard.

Donte DiVincenzo, Timberwolves starting point guard?

Evan Porter, who runs the Timberwolves Insider page on Instagram, posted on X what he believes the Wolves' rotation should look like for the upcoming season. 

Two things really stand out. First, of course, is that he has DiVincenzo listed as the team’s starting point guard. Second, he has their incumbent starting point guard, Mike Conley, completely out of the 10-man rotation. Porter is basically insinuating that he would only play when there is an absence in the lineup.

DiVincenzo being the starting point guard may seem far-fetched, but according to Basketball Reference, approximately 71% of his minutes last season came there. That is due in part to Minnesota not really having a backup point guard in their rotation, as Rob Dillingham did not receive regular minutes. Regardless, DiVincenzo is best utilized in an off-ball role.

This group struggled when together in playoffs 

Now, Porter does clarify in a follow-up tweet that he doesn’t think DiVincenzo should be playing point guard. He brings up how Conley is declining as he turns 38 on October 11, as well as the poor shooting numbers he put up come playoff time, particularly in the Western Conference finals.

While true that the playoffs weren’t Conley’s shining moment, the same can be said for DiVincenzo. The former shot better from long range in the postseason, although DiVincenzo did shoot better than Conley against the Thunder.

Speaking of the postseason, when Porter’s starting five of DiVincenzo, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, and Rudy Gobert played together, it didn’t go well. While the sample size of 34 minutes is quite small, the five-man pairing had an atrocious net rating of -43.8.

It’s understandable to want a starting point guard upgrade over Conley, but the better option would be hoping Dillingham shows further development in his age-21 season. DiVincenzo will still get his fair share of minutes as a reserve/spot starter if Edwards or perhaps McDaniels is forced to miss a game.