MINNEAPOLIS — Before Monday’s game even started, a video played on the scoreboard hanging above the Target Center court. The crowd rose to its feet, applauding a series of highlights not of dunks or 3s or fancy passes, but of closeouts and steals and slipped screens, the kind of grit that eventually made Nickeil Alexander-Walker a lot of money.

Alexander-Walker was the seventh man, at best, during two-and-a-half seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. But he was treated as a hero in his return because he was one while he was here. In his first game at the arena that helped turn him from a journeyman into a $62 million player with the Atlanta Hawks, NAW did what he has always done: He soaked in the moment.

“Being a role player and getting the tribute that I did and everyone just embracing me,” Alexander-Walker said after Minnesota beat Atlanta 138-116. “Honestly, watching it, it was hard not to smile and just appreciate it.”

There were No. 9 Wolves jerseys on the backs of fans all over the arena. During a quiet moment in the first quarter, a fan shouted out, “I love you, Nickeil!” After the game, he exchanged jerseys with Anthony Edwards on the court, then had six more from his teammates at his locker waiting for him.

Alexander-Walker only started 30 of the 187 games he appeared in with the Timberwolves. He never averaged double digits in points. But he endeared himself to the team and its fans by virtue of a boundless energy on the court, an unmatched work ethic in practice and a reflective personality that gave fans a window into his journey from a first-round pick in New Orleans to a fringe player in Utah and finally to an essential rotation piece on the two-time Western Conference finalists in Minnesota.

There was so much demand for his jersey that the team store had to stock them. There was so much mourning when he left last summer for a lucrative contract with the Hawks that one would have thought the Wolves lost an All-Star. He signed autographs before the game, at halftime and afterward.

“I wasn’t an All-Star. I wasn’t a star. I wasn’t even a starter,” Alexander-Walker said. “But they made me feel like one. It’s so nice for me to be as important to them as this place was important to me. To know that people will appreciate you for being a star in your role, that’s something I will tell my son about one day.”

The love fest on display on Monday night for a role player who was not here even three full seasons had to make an impression on the newest Timberwolf, who has arrived to try to fill the NAW-sized hole on this roster.

Ayo Dosunmu played in his second game with the Wolves since being traded from the Chicago Bulls last week. He is a more physically imposing player than Alexander-Walker but has a lot of the same traits. In five years with the Bulls, Dosunmu became wildly popular thanks to a motor that wouldn’t stop and an aggression that made fans feel like they got their money’s worth every night.

“When you’re a player like me who gives it your all each and every night, the only way you can pay back the fans is by going out there and giving your all on a night-in and night-out basis,” Dosunmu said. “You can’t control making shots, but you can control your effort. You can control playing hard, and that’s just what I’m hanging my hat on. ”

After the entire team put up an ugly performance in his debut on Sunday against the LA Clippers, everyone looked much more comfortable against the Hawks, who were playing without Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels. The Wolves shot 59 percent from the floor, racked up 36 assists and led by as many as 31 points as they try to recapture some of the spirit they seem to have lost over the past three weeks.

Edwards had 30 points, six rebounds and six assists, Julius Randle had 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists and Rudy Gobert scored 18 points on 7-of-7 shooting for the Timberwolves (33-22).

But Dosunmu was the star. Running the break with reckless abandon, attacking closeouts and getting to the rim, he scored 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting in 30 minutes. He also had three assists, a block and a steal and was the main reason the Wolves had 25 fast-break points.

“I didn’t know he was that fast,” Randle said. “He can get up and down, and then obviously he can guard, get in passing lanes, stuff like that. He’s gonna be really good.”

Dosunmu has only been in town for a few days. He is just starting to get a handle on the playbook, having watched film with offensive coordinator Pablo Prigioni for a crash course in how the Wolves like to play. But Dosunmu said he is already feeling right at home.

He left a team that was going nowhere in the East to join one that has set its sights on coming out of the West. The Timberwolves have not been playing well of late, often looking bored with the regular season as they drop games against lesser teams. In comes Dosunmu, who has not been in the playoffs since his rookie season in 2021-22, playing with a desperation that the Wolves need.

“I want to be labeled as a guy who plays in the playoffs, a guy who’s a winning player, a guy who does whatever it takes to help the team win,” he said. “So now that I have the opportunity, don’t take it for granted.”

Dosunmu would not be here were it not for Alexander-Walker’s departure.

With how things have been going lately, it is important to rehash the decision-making process that led to Alexander-Walker being the odd man out last summer. He was set to be a free agent along with Randle and Naz Reid. Given their need to get out of the second apron, the Wolves could only afford to sign two of those three players.

Randle was coming off a very good playoff run. He was one of the best players in the league through the first two rounds, a dominant force in series wins over the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors before struggling in the conference finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Reid is a folk hero in the Twin Cities, perhaps the best talent development story in franchise history and a former Sixth Man of the Year.

At the time of the decision, the Wolves were very thin in the frontcourt behind their three main guys, including Gobert. Leonard Miller, who barely played in his first two seasons and was traded to Chicago last week, was the only big left on the bench.

They believed that they had more depth to absorb the loss of Alexander-Walker in the backcourt. They wanted second-year guys Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. to get more run. Neither were exact replacements for NAW, but there was a feeling their unique skill sets could combine to give Minnesota’s bench a different, but still potent, look.

It was a reasonable stance. In this new collective bargaining agreement era, teams have to acquire young talent, develop it and then use it to replace established rotation players when they become expensive.

The process wasn’t the issue. The results have been the problem. A foot injury has bothered Shannon for much of the season. He was sent to Iowa this week and will be re-evaluated after the All-Star break, the team said. Dillingham never came close to earning coach Chris Finch’s trust and was dangled with four second-round picks to convince Chicago to send Dosunmu, a free agent this summer.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Anthony Edwards embrace in Alexander-Walker’s first game back in Minnesota. (Brad Rempel / Imagn Images)

Add to it that Alexander-Walker has continued to ascend after going to Atlanta, and it makes for an ornery Wolves fan base. NAW has started 46 of the Hawks’ 53 games and is averaging 20.3 points, while bringing all of the same connective tissue in the locker room.

“He’s been a consistent presence, both in the locker room and on the court, throughout the course of the year where we’ve had a lot of change,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “As players have been out, injured, come back, signed, traded, whatever the case, I think Nickeil’s been foundational in that regard. … His commitment to defending, to just showing up every day, competing, as much as anything, that example is something that is really important for us.”

That will come as no surprise to anyone in Minnesota. Alexander-Walker went for 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, and CJ McCollum scored 38 points on Monday. NAW went 9 of 19 from the field, a volume of shots for him that was almost unheard of with the Wolves but has been commonplace with the Hawks. Alexander-Walker is taking it all in stride, as he has always done.

“These things don’t really belong to us. They’re not like a birthright, you know what I’m saying?” Alexander-Walker said. “It’s like you earn it and it’s a privilege to be here, it’s a privilege to have this opportunity, and just making the most out of it.”

The Wolves have been missing that kind of light in recent weeks. Dosunmu will try to provide it. It starts with earning his new coaches’ and teammates’ trust.

“What I love about him is just, like, kind of straight line,” Finch said. “He sees an angle, he takes it, doesn’t overcomplicate anything. Puts his shoulder down, and he’s got a nice little finishing touch.”

Dosunmu doesn’t have the patience to take a winding path to the basket. He is trying to make up for lost time. The playoffs are just 27 games away, and he has a lot of catching up to do if he is going to fill Alexander-Walker’s shoes.

“The whole organization and the fan base has done nothing but welcome me with open arms,” Dosunmu said. “Any time I go out there, I’m going to give it my all because I know that I feel welcomed here.”