With LaMelo Ball in the mix (along with both Naz Reid and Julius Randle gone), the Minnesota Timberwolves are leaning into a more perimeter-centric identity. Barring any major changes, Ayo Dosunmu is primed to be the team's de facto starting small forward or, at the very least, play more of a true wing role, whereas he was a guard last year.
One of the more interesting aspects of the Oklahoma City Thunder's highly successful roster building has been their plethora of guard-sized wings or guards in a wing role.
Jalen Williams is arguably their only true wing, and still, at 6-foot-5, he has average positional size at best. Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Lu Dort and Jared McCain are three players who fill a wing-like role despite profiling more like guards.
Sure, you give up some positional size by adopting this strategy. However, the main advantage is that you have more playmaking, creation and general offensive skill by having guards play a wing role. Admittedly, Caruso and Wallace perfectly fit this description, while McCain and Dort don't, as they offer more specialized skills.
Dosunmu, though, shares some similarities with Caruso and Wallace as a jack-of-all-trades guard who plays a wing role. When it's all said and done, using him as a wing could be a major advantage for the Timberwolves.
Why Ayo Dosunmu can thrive in a wing role
Despite being 6-foot-4, Dosunmu is a sturdy 200 pounds. While he is best suited to defend opposing guards, Dosunmu can defend forwards and wings if needed. Notably, last season, Dosunmu spent 26.1 percent of his time guarding opposing forwards, and he held them to 41.7 percent shooting from the field per NBA.com.
With a backcourt of LaMelo and Anthony Edwards, Ayo could slide into a point-of-attack role, with Jaden McDaniels guarding bigger players. Still, in certain matchups, McDaniels could be best utilized as an off-ball roamer, which could lead Dosunmu to defend opposing small forwards.
For as great an addition as Dosunmu proved to be after the playoffs, it was clear that he wasn't the lone solution for Minnesota at point guard. Trading for Ball was an ideal way to address this need. In a true wing role, though, he has elite positional ball-handling and playmaking with dependable spot-up shooting and some creation juice to boot.
Versatility is super valuable in the modern NBA, and a big part of that versatility is having plus ball-handling and playmaking at every position. By playing Dosunmu in a wing role, the Wolves can accomplish this goal.
It's always been clear that Ayo's versatility is his superpower. This is why I loved his extension, and even before that, why I loved the Timberwolves trading for him.
The Thunder have proven how effective the strategy of guard-sized wings can be, and Ayo can help Minnesota replicate this. I don't want to sound too outlandish here, but frankly, Dosunmu's lack of noticeable flaws makes him better than any of the OKC guard-sized wings I mentioned. Still, the Thunder's plethora of guard-sized wings is what makes them dangerous.
Overall, utilizing Dosunmu in a wing role could pay off in a big way for the Timberwolves, partly because of the blueprint OKC laid out.
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