DiVincenzo Is Still Out, and Training Camp Is Almost Here

The injury remains unspecified. The timeline remains murky. I've written some version of that sentence four times now, and here we are again — Donte DiVincenzo still listed as out with no clarity on when he returns, and training camp closing in. At some point the repetition becomes the story.

What's changed since the last time I filed this is the context around it. Minnesota traded Randle and Reid this summer, signed Dosunmu, and brought in LaMelo Ball to solve the execution problems that sank a 49-win team in close games. The wing rotation was always going to require McDaniels to carry more. DiVincenzo being unavailable makes that ask considerably heavier. Last season he averaged nearly 12 points and close to four assists a game across 79 appearances — that's a real contributor, not a depth piece, and right now he's not there.

McDaniels is the fallback, which is fine in theory and was a problem in practice last May. When the offense leaned on him down the stretch, his shot attempts climbed and his efficiency dropped sharply — the exact pattern the Ball acquisition was supposed to prevent. Bones Hyland is the other name in the wing conversation, and he's a capable backup guard, but he logged just over 16 minutes a night last season. That's not a starter's workload.

The optimistic read is that Ball's playmaking redistributes the burden enough that McDaniels never has to carry the load alone. My read is that optimism requires DiVincenzo back and healthy before this thing tips off, and right now there's no indication that's guaranteed.