After Achilles injury, Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo remains positive, motivated to return to action
All things considered, Donte DiVincenzo feels “great.”
“No pain, no discomfort, nothing,” DiVincenzo said the day after Minnesota was bounced from the playoffs. “Scar looks amazing. Literally anything that I was thinking beforehand didn’t kind of transpire that way and it’s been all positive.”
Which is the best you can hope for in the guard’s current predicament. He went down to the floor via a non-contact injury in the opening minutes of Minnesota’s Game 4 win over Denver in Round 1, and immediately waved the training staff over.
He had only one question: “Was there somebody around me?”
No.
That was all DiVincenzo needed to know — it was his Achilles. Yet, though he was immediately armed with the diagnosis, reality didn’t set in until he’d exited the court and made his way, with assistance, to the back of the tunnel.
“That’s when my emotions started going through my head,” he said. “Once I sat in the back, that’s when all the questions, the doubts, the not understanding why me and all that, that’s when that all hit.”
But he didn’t let those thoughts maintain residency in his mind. By the next morning, the page was turned to surgery, recovery and return. His procedure took place in New York fewer than 24 hours after suffering the injury.
Later that week, he was back around his teammates. DiVincenzo traveled with the Wolves throughout the remainder of the team’s playoff run and was ever present in the locker room. It put the guard in the proper mindset to attack his recovery — both the physical and the mental.
It’s beneficial to come into the facility for rehab. Perhaps more difficult is the time spent with your leg up after that work is done for the day. For DiVincenzo, joking with teammates on the bus or plane sure beat sitting at home by himself.
“Being in constant communication with those guys and having that team, that brotherhood around you,” DiVincenzo said, “it really gets you through the dark moments.”
DiVincenzo’s current support team extends well beyond the Timberwolves.
He’s now a member of the infamous ruptured Achilles club — one that includes recent inductees such as Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Portland’s Damian Lillard. All have been in contact with DiVincenzo since his injury occurred. The Wolves guard said he’s asked “a million questions,” with each player helping him in different ways.
Conversations with Haliburton came off as those of a friend. Tatum gave insight into what the day-to-day operation will look like in the months to come. Lillard explained his mental approach to the journey.
Their recoveries also create potential timelines for DiVincenzo to return to play, which could potentially come at some point in the latter stages of next season. The Wolves need him. Anthony Edwards noted the impact DiVincenzo’s absence had on the San Antonio series.
“He spreads the floor like no other,” Edwards said. “A series like this where they’re just double-teaming (me), I would love to have Donte in my slot, just throwing it to him the entire time and he shoots 20 3s.”
Perhaps Edwards will have his sidearm in tow for next year’s playoff run. That prospect is still far down the line.
DiVincenzo noted everyone’s body is different. Currently, he’s focused on breaking his rehab process into different segments and “just trying to attack it each and every day.”
Part of the motivation to do so is with getting back on the floor in mind. Specifically, the Target Center floor.
DiVincenzo — who has one year remaining on his current deal in Minnesota — said it was “emotional” returning to the building for Minnesota’s Game 6 victory over Denver and seeing not only his teammates all sporting his jersey, but a get-well-soon poster put together by a handful of season-ticket holders.
“Just knowing that you’re being thought of, you’re loved, it helps you, it gives you the motivation to want to get back,” the guard said. “There’s nothing more that motivates me than trying to get in front of and play in front of our fans. That’s how I’ve been attacking the rehab early on, and that’s how I’m going to continue to grow. I’m going be itching to get back to play in Target Center. That’s all credit to the fans. That love, it just sits with you and gives you that motivation.”
