Donte DiVincenzo is an early-season favorite for Sixth Man of the Year

Wolves forward Naz Reid took home the award last season.

Oct 13, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo (0) looks on during the first half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Will the Timberwolves have consecutive Sixth Man of the Year Award winners? A number of national NBA insiders, as well as the betting market, seem to be leaning towards that conclusion as the 2024-25 season gets under way this week.

Naz Reid took home the award last season after averaging 13.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. Now, it appears new Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo is an early-season favorite to take home the award this season.

DiVincenzo joined the Timberwolves as part of the blockbuster trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks in early October. With Mike Conley and Anthony Edwards manning the two starting guard spots, DiVincenzo will come off the bench this season in Minnesota after starting 63 games for New York last season.

With Conley getting up there in age (37), coach Chris Finch has mentioned they're looking to limit the veteran guard's minutes to help him get through an entire NBA season. That would appear to signify a significant role off the bench for DiVincenzo this season, something that was already evident in the team's season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, when he finished with 32 minutes of action.

The increased role is why the likes of Mark Stein, Yahoo's Kevin O'Connor and ESPN's Jeremy Woo have all picked DiVincenzo to take home the award at the end of the season.

"Finch and Donte DiVincenzo are my preseason picks for Coach of the Year and Sixth Man, respectively, which should tell you that The Committee expects the Wolves to continue to be one of the West's top contenders," Stein wrote.

"DiVincenzo should be motivated after his trade out of New York, and his versatility to play alongside both Anthony Edwards and Mike Conley in different lineups makes him an excellent fit for major minutes in Minnesota coming off the bench. He had a career year last season (283 3-pointers in 2023-24, third most in the NBA) and should maintain that level of play," Woo wrote in an article predicting the major awards for the 2024-25 season.

"The Timberwolves effectively had DiVincenzo playing point guard during the preseason, allowing him to run the show more often than he was ever enabled to do last season with the Knicks. With Minnesota, 23% of his total possessions were pick-and-rolls. That’s up from 11% last season with the Knicks, per Synergy Sports. DiVincenzo will of course continue to thrive as a shooting weapon, but his greatest value could be as a set-up man next to Anthony Edwards. With Mike Conley now 37 years old, it also shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise if DiVincenzo ends up starting at some point during the season," O'Connor wrote in a season prediction article.

2024-25 NBA season predictions:

NBA champion: Celtics over Thunder
Most Valuable Player: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Rookie of the Year: Zach Edey
Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama
Coach of the Year: Ime Udoka
Sixth Man: Donte DiVincenzo
Most Improved: Jalen Johnson https://t.co/lzuFBbQOi9

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) October 22, 2024

As for his odds of actually being named Sixth Man of the Year, several sportsbooks have him among their top-5 favorites. BetMGM has him at +1400 (tied for fifth-best odds).

Meanwhile, DraftKings has him at +1200 (tied for third) and FanDuel at +1400 (tied for fourth).

If DiVincenzo did win the award, it would be just the third time in league history that one team had two different players win the award in consecutive years: the Boston Celtics had back-to-back winners in 1984-85 and 1985-86 with Kevin McHale and Bill Walton, and the Los Angeles Clippers did, too, in 2018-19 and 2019-20 with Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell.