Sports
Timberwolves’ Donte DiVincenzo finally embraces new home by letting go of New York
MINNEAPOLIS — The realization of what it was going to take to fully become a Minnesota Timberwolf came slowly for Donte DiVincenzo.
No matter how often he said that he was happy to be in Minnesota, no matter how welcoming his new teammates and coaches were to a player they so desperately needed, DiVincenzo could not help himself from holding on to what he left behind.
For an athlete, there is nothing more intoxicating than the roar of the crowd, and DiVincenzo’s last memories of his one season in the Big Apple were soaked in adoration from the New York Knicks’ faithful. Madison Square Garden erupted for him in the Knicks’ last game of the season, when he scored 39 points during a loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of their second-round series. And his ears were still ringing from the mayhem of Game 2 of the first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers, against whom his 3-pointer capped a miraculous comeback win and left him almost speechless from the volume inside one of the league’s most storied arenas.
The “Big Ragu” was a smash hit on Broadway, averaging a career-high 15.5 points per game and hitting 40 percent of his 3s for an upstart team that fought to the death. When he was traded on the eve of training camp along with Julius Randle to Minnesota for Karl-Anthony Towns, DiVincenzo told himself that it was for the best. The Knicks had just spent a boatload of draft capital to acquire another wing in Mikal Bridges, meaning he likely was not going to be able to hold on to his starting spot, and he was coming to one of the rising teams in the Western Conference, one with a megawatt star in Anthony Edwards that was entering the season with championship aspirations.
The Timberwolves turned down several offers from the Knicks over the past year and only relented after they included DiVincenzo in the deal, so he knew he was wanted in his new home.
But that roar. It is straight dopamine into the veins. You don’t just leave that behind. You don’t just forget that when you step on the plane.
“From what I felt, I think he was still hanging on to some frustration from what happened,” Wolves center Rudy Gobert said. “He’s human. But when you want to succeed, you’ve got to let that go.”
There was an anvil hanging around his neck. The past was preventing him from fully embracing the present. There was only one thing to do.
“Stop comparing what you did last year and just go out and hoop,” DiVincenzo said.
Unlike most offseason trades, DiVincenzo had no time to process this one. The Timberwolves and Knicks pulled off their blockbuster just two days before training camp opened. Like the rest of the principals involved in the deal, DiVincenzo was caught completely off guard.
“I was at home chilling,” he said. “Next thing I know, I’m on a flight going to Minnesota.”
It was nothing against Minnesota or the Timberwolves. DiVincenzo was genuinely excited to play with Edwards and come to a team that he knew valued his skill set. It was just jarring to have to relocate so close to the start of a season. As soon as the regular season began, DiVincenzo just could not find the same gear that had led to his career campaign with New York.
Through the first 18 games of the season, he averaged 8.9 points on 35 percent shooting, including 31.5 percent from 3-point range. This was not the fiery competitor, plug-and-play, 3-and-D wing the Wolves thought they were getting. This was an angsty, erratic player prone to turnovers on drives to the basket and scuds that clanked hard off the back iron when he pulled up from 3.
Everyone, from players to coaches to fans, wanted to see this new-look Timberwolves team just pick up where it left off last season. The reality of the situation was much more complex.
“It’s hard, because you know that going back to the trade, you lose a huge piece,” DiVincenzo said of Towns. “And you have two guys coming in that aren’t just throw-in guys. They’re key rotation guys that you have to figure it out. And when things aren’t going well, there’s a lot of stones thrown at you guys because of the success that the team had last year, but understanding stay together and figure it out.”
In the gossip-riddled NBA, speculation started to spread of DiVincenzo’s unhappiness with his role. He went from starting the last 74 games of last season and averaging 36 minutes per night in the playoffs for the Knicks to coming off of the bench for 24 minutes a game in Minnesota. Those Knicks were the toast of the town for their unexpected success in the Eastern Conference playoffs. These Timberwolves were booed at home earlier in the season because they were not meeting the expectations set by last season’s run to the West finals.
DiVincenzo’s body language did little to dissuade the rumor-mongers. Even when he was making shots, he reacted more with a sigh of relief than the bravado that is his calling card. His shoulders slumped with every turnover that came from trying to get Gobert the ball. His answers in interviews grew edgier as he was asked about the team’s struggles to find a rhythm.
“Everybody holds themselves to a high standard, so when it’s not going to that ability of what you know you’re capable of, it seems like the negative is worse than what it actually is,” DiVincenzo said. “For me, it’s just understanding that some games aren’t going to happen. You’re not going to have your night. But what can you hang your hat on? Making energy plays, doing the little things and giving yourself up to your teammates.”
Through all of the early-season struggles, the Wolves never wavered with DiVincenzo. They love his talent, love his contract and see him as a main part of their core going forward. Edwards went through a shooting session with him on Thanksgiving to try to boost his spirits. Chris Finch talked to him about where he feels comfortable getting his shots and how they can make things easier for him. Mike Conley and Naz Reid encouraged him to keep shooting no matter what.
But it was a chance conversation with veteran guard (and Wolves nemesis) Dennis Schröder that helped crystalize DiVincenzo’s outlook.
When Schröder was traded from Brooklyn to Golden State last week, he sought out DiVincenzo for notes on what it was like to play for the Warriors. DiVincenzo raved about his experience in Golden State and offered some thoughts on how Schröder could acclimate to his new surroundings. Schröder then turned the tables on him. He told DiVincenzo that it was time to stop fixating on his transition from New York to Minnesota and just get out there and play.
“He was just straightforward with his words,” DiVincenzo said. “He said that it’s hard. You just have to go out and do it. No matter where you’re at, just be you and just go do it. You look yourself in the mirror and be like, all right, the situation is the situation. Let last year go. This year is this year.”
Over the last six games, DiVincenzo is starting to look much more like the difference-maker he was in New York and the key role player who helped the Milwaukee Bucks win a championship. In that span, he is averaging 15.2 points on 50 percent shooting, including 49 percent from 3-point range. He scored a season-high 26 points on Sunday night and was a team-best plus-23 in a 112-110 victory over the San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota’s third straight win.
DiVincenzo hit 5 of 10 3s and also had seven rebounds and four assists, one game after hitting six 3s and scoring 22 points in the Wolves’ come-from-behind win in Houston.
“He’s giving us everything,” Finch said. “He’s giving us everything we knew he was with the rebounding and the shotmaking and the smart play.”
The key for DiVincenzo lately is that he has been so much more than just a shooter. He is grabbing rebounds in traffic, helping the Wolves out-board 7-foot-3 Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs 56-41 on Sunday night. He is finding some chemistry with Gobert, hitting him on lobs and pick-and-roll actions for easy buckets.
Rudy Gobert PnR reverse dunk, assisted by Donte DiVincenzo pic.twitter.com/MB1jV7P52k
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) December 30, 2024
And he may have had the play of the game when he raced back on defense to break up a pass from Chris Paul to Wembanyama that could have cut Minnesota’s lead to one point with 90 seconds to play.
Donte DiVincenzo clutch hustle play pic.twitter.com/3bmoW0rdmx
— Timberwolves Clips (@WolvesClips) December 30, 2024
“I think that’s what gets me going. It’s what gets everybody else going,” DiVincenzo said. “That’s who I am. It’s what my identity is. It’s also what our identity as a team is. … The good is contagious; so is the bad. So, those little plays of just trying to make a play then turns into other guys making plays.”
As he started to find his footing, the sauce is returning to Ragu’s game as well. Now, when he hits an open 3, he will do his trademark celebration and hold out his right arm with three fingers extended while pointing to the ice in his veins.
13 PTS EACH FOR THESE TWO 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/ZdSBsedgdU
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 28, 2024
He unleashed a finger roll on a drive to the basket against San Antonio and also froze Keldon Johnson in transition with a slow spin move, a game drenched in confidence.
OKAY DDV 👀👀 pic.twitter.com/JiDXCOUNW7
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 30, 2024
“Getting back to playing for the joy and love of the game versus comparing what I did and trying to build off of it,” DiVincenzo said. “Just being out there. You can’t take it for granted. You’re playing in the NBA, and you’re playing for one of the best teams in the league, and you’re playing with one of the best young superstars in the league. That dude has fun. Go have fun with him.”
The Wolves are all having fun right now. After a three-game losing streak dropped them to a disappointing .500, they went on the road to beat Dallas on Christmas Day and came back from 16 down with five minutes to play in Houston to stun the Rockets. They were down eight points early in the fourth quarter against San Antonio, but DiVincenzo played the last 17 minutes of the second half to help rally the Wolves (17-14), who are 9-4 in their last 13. Every one of those wins has come against a team with a record over .500 at the time.
Rudy Gobert had 17 points, 15 rebounds and a block against the Spurs. Randle added 16 points and four assists and gave it his all on defense against the towering Wembanyama, who had 34 points on 13-of-30 shooting.
After the Timberwolves got a final defensive stop to preserve their win, DiVincenzo was interviewed in the arena as the player of the game. The sellout crowd hollered “Donte! Donte! Donte!” as he answered questions, a warm and well-earned embrace from a fan base that has been waiting to see this version of him.
“It was super cool,” DiVincenzo said with a wide smile.
And he left it at that. No need to compare it to what he heard in New York. That is in the past. There are new memories to make.
“Just let go. Just go play. This is home. I want to be here,” DiVincenzo said. “There’s nothing else outside of that. It’s not (speculation) that I don’t want to be here. It’s not (people saying) that I’m p—-ed off. No. I’m happy as hell.
“My family’s here. I’m raising my family here. It’s a beautiful city. I want to be here. Now, just go play.”
(Top photo: David Berding / Getty Images )
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
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Sports
Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush
Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.
“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.
Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.
On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.
Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.
Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.
(Lindsey Wasson / AP)
The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.
Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.
His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”
Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.
Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.
A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.
Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.
A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.
The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.
He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.
“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”
Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.
“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.
“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”
Sports
Keith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death
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Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead.
“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights.
Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.
“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann.
One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”
Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”
Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.
After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.
In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.
Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post.
In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”
Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.
After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media.
Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.
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Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death.
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