![\"Minnesota](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2214789733.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Donte DiVincenzo<\/a>\u2019s night ended almost as soon as it started, and the reaction around the NBA<\/a> reflected how scary the moment looked.<\/p>\n The Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> guard suffered a non-contact right lower leg injury early in Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets<\/a> on Saturday night in Minneapolis. The injury occurred 1:19 into the game, with DiVincenzo going down in visible pain before the Timberwolves later ruled him out for the remainder of the game with a right lower leg injury.<\/p>\n That official designation was the only confirmed diagnosis in the immediate aftermath. But the visual \u2014 DiVincenzo grabbing at his foot\/ankle area, struggling to put weight on his right leg and being surrounded by teammates \u2014 quickly drew concern from reporters, analysts and NBA observers.<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s Anthony Slater wrote<\/a> on X that DiVincenzo was \u201cbeing helped off the floor 79 seconds into Game 4\u201d and was \u201cstruggling to put weight on his right foot.\u201d<\/p>\n Donte DiVincenzo being helped off the floor 79 seconds into Game 4. Struggling to put weight on his right foot.<\/p>\n Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic called it an \u201cominous sign\u201d<\/a> that the entire Wolves bench came out to check on DiVincenzo, adding, \u201cThis does not look good.\u201d<\/p>\n Ominous sign that the whole Wolves bench came out to check on Donte. This does not look good.<\/p>\n Dane Moore, who covers the Timberwolves<\/a>, noted that DiVincenzo was down grabbing at the back of his foot and that \u201cthe entire team has circled around him at midcourt.\u201d<\/p>\n That did not look good for Donte DiVincenzo who is down on the floor grabbing at the back of his foot\u2026<\/p>\n The entire team has circled around him at midcourt.<\/p>\n Kevin O\u2019Connor also reacted to the play<\/a>, writing that it looked like the same \u201cfalse step\u201d often seen with Achilles injuries. Law Murray posted, \u201cDamn. Donte Achilles smh,\u201d before adding that he hoped it was \u201cjust a strain.\u201d<\/p>\n Those reactions were not diagnoses. The Timberwolves had not announced an Achilles injury as of the initial update, and the team\u2019s official language was \u201cright lower leg injury.\u201d But the concern was immediate because of the way the play unfolded and because of DiVincenzo\u2019s importance to Minnesota\u2019s playoff rotation.<\/p>\n Donte DiVincenzo\u2019s Injury Hit a Timberwolves Team Already in Control of the Series<\/p>\n Minnesota entered Game 4 with a 2-1 lead in the first-round series after a 113-96 Game 3 win over Denver. DiVincenzo was part of that surge, finishing Game 3 with 15 points and a game-high seven assists as the Timberwolves held the Nuggets to 34.1% shooting.<\/p>\n That made the timing especially brutal for Minnesota.<\/p>\n DiVincenzo had become one of the Wolves\u2019 most important perimeter pieces \u2014 a high-volume shooter, secondary ball-handler and playoff-tested guard who could function next to Anthony Edwards<\/a>, Julius Randle<\/a> and Minnesota\u2019s defensive front. Losing him would not just remove shooting. It would affect spacing, ball movement and lineup flexibility.<\/p>\n Ayo Dosunmu<\/a> was the natural replacement option after leading Minnesota with 25 points off the bench in Game 3, and he stepped in after DiVincenzo exited.<\/p>\n But moving Dosunmu up the rotation creates another issue: it changes the bench. More pressure could shift to Naz Reid, Mike Conley, Bones Hyland<\/a> or Terrence Shannon<\/a> Jr., depending on how Chris Finch wants to handle guard minutes and secondary creation.<\/p>\n NBA Reporters Urged Concern, But the Timberwolves\u2019 Diagnosis Still Matters Most<\/p>\n The most important detail is also the one that was not immediately available: the actual diagnosis.<\/p>\n The reaction from NBA media was emotional and understandable. Non-contact lower leg injuries can look alarming in real time, and DiVincenzo\u2019s reaction only heightened the concern.<\/p>\n Until the Timberwolves provide additional testing results, though, the injury should be described only as what the team confirmed: a right lower leg injury.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tErik Anderson<\/a> is an award-winning sports journalist covering the NBA, MLB and NFL for Heavy.com. He also focuses on the trading card market. His work has appeared in nationally-recognized outlets including The New York Times, Associated Press , USA Today, and ESPN. More about Erik Anderson<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Donte DiVincenzo\u2019s night ended almost as soon as it started, and the reaction around the NBA reflected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-631076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}