Unfortunately, the Minnesota Timberwolves have now entered offseason mode. For the third straight year, the Wolves were eliminated in a game that wasn’t close. The previous two years, which came in the conference finals, and this year, the conference semifinals.
Without a doubt, the most important upcoming free agent from their squad has to be Ayo Dosunmu. The 26-year-old was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Bulls in early February. With the way he performed after donning the Timberwolves jersey, it should be a top priority to keep Ayo in Minneapolis.
Dosunmu will soon be entering unrestricted free agency
Now five years deep into his NBA career, Dosunmu is certainly due for a fairly substantial raise on his previous deal. In the 2023 offseason, he was brought back by Chicago on a three-year contract worth $21 million.
Ayo was awesome basically from the jump after joining the Timberwolves. In 24 regular season games with them, he posted averages of 14.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists with excellent shooting splits of 52.1/41.4/92.5.
On March 30, Dosunmu became the first player in the Western Conference to have an outing of at least 15 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, and 3 steals while shooting at least 60 percent from the field since Magic Johnson.
In Game 4 of the opening round against the Denver Nuggets, Dosunmu had a standout performance that is amongst the best in franchise playoff history. The 2021 second-round pick dropped 43 points while connecting on all five of his 3-point tries.
With Donte DiVincenzo out for much, if not all, of the 2026-27 season after tearing his Achilles, there’s a clear opening for Dosunmu to be in the starting five next season if retained. There would have been a strong case for Ayo to start even if The Big Ragu were healthy. Now, it’s about finding a price point to keep Dosunmu in tow.
The most that Minnesota can offer Dosunmu prior to free agency starting is $52 million over 3 years. I’m not sure that’s going to be enough. He could look at someone like Andrew Nembhard, who was given a three-year contract extension for slightly more than $58.5 million in the 2024 offseason. That was when the salary cap wasn’t quite as high, and Ayo is coming off a better year than Nembhard had in 2023-24.
A new deal would almost certainly put Minnesota over the first tax apron, with other roster sports still needed to be filled.
There’s still a lot that could happen, though, because someone like Julius Randle could be gone, and other changes could be made after a 30-point loss in an elimination game. One thing that should remain the same is Dosunmu being rostered by the Timberwolves.
Add us as a preferred source on Google