Rob Dillingham was rolling in January. The rookie point guard was getting more opportunities and taking advantage of them on a night to night basis, flashing his abilities to score and make plays.
Finally, after a 19-point, eight-assist showing in a win over Utah at the end of the month, Timberwolves television analyst Jim Petersen asked the teenager: “Is the game easy for you, Rob?”
“It is pretty easy,” Dillingham said with a big smile, “I’m not gonna lie.”
Then basketball did to Dillingham what it tends to do to players, particularly early in their professional careers – it humbled him.
In February, the guard shot just 36% from the field and 11% from distance. He looked like a different player from one month to the next.
What happened?
“It’s just a mental thing,” Dillingham said. “There was no difference from January to February – other than how I’m thinking about it.”
When he first got his opportunity in January after watching much of the first two-plus months of the season from the bench, Dillingham entered the situation thinking, “What do I have to lose?” He played free, and he delivered some of his best basketball because of it.
But as the calendar flipped, Dillingham noted he started to think about the imminent returns of injured players. Suddenly, every time he’d rise up for a shot, he’d think “Oh, I’ve got to make this to keep playing.”
That mindset rarely works in your favor. Even in the moment, Dillingham was able to attribute some of his struggles to his thought process. But it’s one thing to diagnose it, and it’s another to be able to actually correct course amid the grind that is the NBA season.
“That’s what I’ve learned, for real,” said Dillingham, who will open his second Summer League season on Thursday. “You just have to keep your mentals steady.”
It’s a lesson he partially learned from plane rides sitting by Nickeil Alexander-Walker. The guard, who departed to Atlanta via a sign-and-trade deal this offseason, was previously in a similar spot as Dillingham – coming off the bench, unsure of how many minutes he’d play or what his role would be. It’s a situation most players find themselves in early in their NBA careers.
Alexander-Walker often spoke of the mental challenges that came with the job, particularly the pressure you put on yourself to not mess up, for fear of losing playing time.
How do you deal with the anxiety of knowing a missed shot can lead to a spot on the pine?
“How he fixed it was just to keep doing it,” Dillingham said. “If you mess up, you mess up. What is there to lose, for real?”
Trust in the work. Trust in yourself. The now 20-year-old has buried himself in the gym this offseason. He has put an emphasis on doing what the Timberwolves need from him to be successful. He has taken every opportunity to work on his ability to “run a team” from the point guard spot.
Defense will always be a question mark for the guard, but Wolves Summer League head coach Kevin Hanson was impressed by the way Dillingham dug in on that end, even as a rookie.
Any shortcomings from Dillingham won’t be due to a lack of effort. He can control that.
“It’s not a lot of things you can fully control. When you try to control things, it don’t go your way,” Dillingham said. “When I get an opportunity, try my best and go as hard (as I can). I feel like when you’re scared of failure, that’s when you don’t even exert what you know you’ve got.”
Dillingham admits last season was difficult. He was a teenager who moved to a different part of the country and had to adjust to a new team, a new home and a new lifestyle – one that suddenly included less time playing competitive basketball.
“I’ve been doing this my whole life,” Dillingham said. “Imagine you’ve been doing something your whole life, and then it just stops. You’re still doing it, but (not in the same way). That’s a terrible feeling sometimes.”
And there are very few familiar things around you to provide comfort.
“Obviously it’s hard, stressful,” Dillingham said. “You don’t know what to think sometimes. It makes you angry.”
But Dillingham hit a point where his perspective shifted. He started to view the situation as a challenge from God. He realized such challenges were a part of life that would aid in his elevation. How he handled it would determine his trajectory.
“I try to do my best every day. Obviously, I fall back into negative patterns sometimes. But humans do that. If you’re human, you’re going to mess up,” Dillingham said. “Just keep going. No matter what we’re going to go through, you’ve just got to keep going and keep going, keep going. That’s how I look at it.”
And, eventually, you’ll come out on the other side. That’s where Dillingham may be now. He’s set up with a real opportunity to earn consistent playing time next season for the Timberwolves after leading the Summer League team this month as his comfortable, confident self.
“That’s really the main thing I’m focused on,” Dillingham said. “I’ve been working hard, and I feel like I do feel like a chance is coming. So it’s up to me to make the most of it.”
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Rob Dillingham (4) shoots over Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon, center left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
