The NBA has its ups and downs as far as headlines are concerned, but Ayo Dosunmu's situation is a golden example of one of the negative headlines circulating The Association right now.
Over the years, teams have figured out that you need to be either good or bad. There is no middle ground. Being .500 just gets you a first round NBA Playoff exit and a bad draft pick at the same time.
Just about three weeks ago, that is the boat the Chicago Bulls were in. They weren’t a bad team. In fact, they were treading water and looking at a play-in spot in this year’s NBA Playoffs. But that isn’t going to get you to improve as a franchise in today’s NBA. Instead of continuing to tread water, the franchise smashed a huge hole in the boat.
Piece by piece was traded off. Dosunmu was a part of that mass exodus, as he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Along with Dosunmu, starters Coby White and Nikola Vucevic were also jettisoned to greener pastures.
The Bulls were completely dismantled. Before Chicago launched a couple of cannonballs into the side of the ship, Dosunmu was saved by not just any team, but he is now on a contender.
The Ayo Dosunmu trade worked out both for the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves
It isn’t every day that a trade in the NBA accomplishes the goals set by both franchises. For the Bulls, they got exactly what they wanted: a bad team with zero depth. That results in losing.
Since the trade, Chicago has dropped nine in a row, going from 24-27 to 24-36. They are also comfortably five games out of the play-in, which would secure them a spot in the lottery. The next goal is to keep tanking and improve the odds to get one of those top picks to land someone like AJ Dybantsa or Cameron Boozer.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Dosunmu heading to Minnesota has been great for the Timberwolves. They now have depth and a quality player coming off the bench to give them quality minutes.
Dosunmu is averaging 11.4 points, 2.6 assists, and 1.9 rebounds per game while shooting 37.5% from three-point range in the short time he has been with Minnesota. The Timberwolves are 5-2 with Dosunmu and currently hold the No. 5 seed in a tough Western Conference.
It is a tank for the ages. The Bulls didn’t want to be a middle-of-the-pack team anymore. Minnesota needed depth. Dosunmu needed a winning franchise. Everyone made out like bandits.