MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 For months, every entry in Ayo Dosunmu\u2019s journal included the same five words: \u201cWe will make the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
It might be at the beginning as he was first jotting down his thoughts. It might be the closing line. But starting last September during Bulls<\/a> training camp, Dosunmu didn\u2019t miss a day, almost hellbent on writing into existence what had become his personal mantra.<\/p>\n On Thursday, he and his teammates went through their morning shootaround, preparing for Game 3 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.<\/p>\n Dosunmu had made the playoffs, all right … with the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more and more I\u2019m here, the more opportunity for spotlight games, the first [playoffs] since my rookie year and being a monumental piece to help the team win \u2014 you can\u2019t ask for anything better than that,\u201d the former Illinois guard, now in his fifth NBA season, told the Sun-Times. \u201cIt\u2019s a blessing in disguise, actually. Playing meaningful basketball, playing in the playoffs, that\u2019s always been a dream of mine, and that\u2019s why I wrote that in my journal every day. God just sent me here with a different team.\u201d<\/p>\n Dosunmu and forward Julian Phillips were traded to Minnesota on Feb. 4, one day before the deadline, for guard Rob Dillingham, forward Leonard Miller and four second-round draft picks. It was one of seven deals the Bulls made leading up to the deadline as Arturas Karnisovas, then the executive vice president of basketball operations, and then-general manager Marc Eversley purged the roster of Dosunmu, Phillips, center Nikola Vucevic, guards Coby White and Jevon Carter and guard\/forwards Kevin Huerter and Dalen Terry.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I was surprised because I understood the circumstances with my contract and how many expiring contracts we had, so I knew it was a possibility,\u201d Dosunmu said. \u201cI\u2019d say from the beginning of the season, I told myself I wouldn\u2019t let that get into my play, get into the team, so I was going to never think about it.<\/p>\n \u201cBut as the trade deadline approached, 24, 48 hours before the trade deadline, you started to see the moves, and I understood the possibility could become bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n It did, of course. And the fallout from the trades became one of the many reasons why Karnisovas and Eversley were fired<\/a> before the end of the regular season.<\/p>\n Dosunmu said he recently spoke with Karnisovas, the man who drafted him in 2021 to play for his hometown team, and found some closure.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes you have that thankfulness,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re drafted somewhere, you help a player develop, help a player take it to another step, and that\u2019s why I love Chicago so much, because I was a second-round pick, fought my way into the rotation, got better each and every year, and that was my home. So when I was dealt, that kind of also put a chip on my shoulder because I felt like they just threw away all the work they put into me.<\/p>\n \u201cI was able to close that chapter, speak with [Karnisovas]. He said what he said, I said what I said, and we move on from there. It\u2019s a business, and I wish those guys the best of luck, wish [departing coach] Billy [Donovan]<\/a> the best of luck. Now [I\u2019m] focused on trying to get far in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n He also aims to show the rest of the NBA that he\u2019s more than the player they saw in Chicago \u2014 that he can be a difference-maker for a talented postseason team. He was making a good argument considering his team-high 25 points in the Game 3 win over Denver.<\/p>\n He\u2019ll be a free agent in July. Tim Connelly, the Timberwolves\u2019 president of basketball operations, has told Dosunmu he wants Minnesota to be his home, but the T-wolves also have $188 million committed to next season\u2019s payroll and are up against the first salary-tax apron.<\/p>\n Would Dosunmu consider a return to the Bulls?<\/p>\n \u201cEverything is on the table when you\u2019re a free agent,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the main thing about being a free agent \u2014 you listen. You have conversations with whoever is interested. I\u2019ll sit down with my family, and you have those conversations about where the next duration of my career will be, but Minnesota has shown me love here. I love the love I\u2019ve been getting from the coaching staff, the fans, the players. So of course Minnesota will have the first dibs to do right and make me feel at home where I won\u2019t even have to go out and entertain [other offers].<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what free agency is all about, sitting down and talking to teams, so I wouldn\u2019t rule out no team. But that\u2019s down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n A journal entry for another day.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/div>\n The NBA playoffs march on. So, in their own backward manner, do the once-proud Bulls.<\/p>\n [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone] <\/p>\n
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