The Timberwolves are focused on a push toward the NBA playoffs. And the World Baseball Classic, too

A huge game awaits the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night.

It'll happen in Houston, even though the Timberwolves will be in Los Angeles. There will be no dunks, no traveling, no 3-pointers. No halftime, either. No shot clock, but there will be a pitch clock.

And there will be fouls. Well, foul balls.

These are fun times for the Timberwolves. They're in the thick of an airtight Western Conference playoff race, but they're getting a neat and probably unexpected diversion — the World Baseball Classic. Minnesota assistant coach Micah Nori's son is Dante Nori, and he's been a breakout player for Italy in that tournament. Italy plays the U.S. on Tuesday night, a game that starts a couple of hours before the Timberwolves take on the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I will be watching the Timberwolves,” Micah Nori said. “But at 6 o'clock Pacific time, I will be focused on the Italians and the Americans in the WBC, for sure.”

Make no mistake, the Timberwolves are focused on the stretch run and trying to lock up the best possible playoff seed. But that doesn't mean head coach Chris Finch, co-owner Alex Rodriguez — the slugger who knows a thing or two about baseball — and others within the organization can't stop and cheer for one of their own, even if it does mean paying attention to a different sport.

“My family is obviously locked in on it, but so is our organization," Micah Nori said. “It sounds crazy, but so many guys are locked in. Our head coach is a big fan, and I can't tell you how many people send videos or pictures of them watching Dante's game. It means a lot. It is a welcome distraction, if you will, one that has you just get away from the grind a little bit.”

Dante Nori is 5 for 7 through his first two games of the tournament, with a two-homer game in Italy's win over Brazil on Saturday.

His father says that by the time Dante was 4, he figured his future was in baseball. As the story goes, Dante would try to play on his toy basket and Micah would swat his shot away and put the baseball bat in his hands instead.

Dante says the baseball-over-basketball realization actually happened around the time he was in middle school and realized he wasn't going to get past 5-foot-9.

“It was a very easy choice,” Dante Nori said. “Just keep the cleats on and play baseball.”

Having Dante wear Italia across his chest for this tournament is a big deal to the family. But it's not exactly a stretch that Micah Nori — someone who could easily be an NBA head coach one day — has a kid who excels in baseball.

And really, baseball has basically been the family sport.

Fred Nori, Micah Nori's father, played three years of college baseball at Indiana before spending a few seasons in pro ball. Micah Nori also played baseball at Indiana, batting a team-best .365 as a senior. Butch Carter got him into basketball as an advance scout with the Toronto Raptors, but he wound up leaving that role to return to the Hoosiers as a coach. Micah Nori returned to the NBA four years later and has been in the league ever since.

“Being around all these great NBA players your whole life, it helps you out listening to them, seeing their work ethic, seeing what they had to do to get there," Dante Nori said. "And then the standpoint of getting to rep that name — Italia — across your chest, you’re playing for your ancestors, you're playing for your family, especially my grandpa Fred. Him getting to watch is really special. All of that, it’s just all coming together. It's sweet.”

It's not lost on the Nori family that one of the guys running the Wolves right now was a 14-time All-Star, three-time MVP, a World Series champion and someone who hit 696 home runs in his career.

Yes, A-Rod is a fine guy for Dante Nori to have in his corner. It's just another illustration of how, for the Timberwolves and the Nori family, the worlds of baseball and basketball are meshing perfectly together right now.

“Alex has been great the few times that Dante and he have crossed paths when Dante was in Minnesota, even when he was in high school," Micah Nori said. “Alex is always taking time to give Dante some advice. And I think that’s been huge. Just the fact that Dante has been fortunate enough to grow up in professional locker rooms, he realizes that they're just people but he sees the work ethic. And that's why I think he gets to the WBC and just focuses on playing his game. He's not distracted or overwhelmed by it all."

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Italy's Dante Nori, right, celebrates after hitting a home run against Brazil during the seventh inning of a World Baseball Classic game, Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Philadelphia Phillies' Kehden Hettiger, right, and Dante Nori celebrate after Hettiger's two-run home run during the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Clearwater. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Italy's Dante Nori, right, celebrates after hitting a home run against Brazil during the seventh inning of a World Baseball Classic game, Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The United Nations Mission in South Sudan said Monday that it would not comply with a government order to shut down its base in Akobo, an opposition stronghold near the Ethiopian border where tens of thousands of refugees have fled.

On Friday, the South Sudanese army ordered U.N. peacekeepers as well as NGOs and civilians to vacate the town ahead of a planned assault.

But the mission refused to leave and said it would provide “a protective presence for civilians” in the town, adding that the safety and security of its personnel “must be fully respected at all times.”

The U.N. Mission said it was engaging “intensively with national, state and local stakeholders” regarding this order. “Any military operations in and around Akobo gravely endanger the safety and security of civilians,” said mission chief Anita Kiki Gbeho.

The South Sudanese government has been fighting opposition forces since a 2018 peace deal broke down about a year ago.

A dramatic escalation took place in December 2025, when opposition forces seized several government outposts in northern Jonglei. A government counter-offensive repelled their forces a month later and displaced over 280,000 people. Tens of thousands have sought refuge in Akobo, where a small contingent of U.N. peacekeepers is stationed.

Fearing the looming government assault on Akobo, humanitarian workers were evacuated over the weekend, and a mass exodus of the population has also begun.

Local officials contacted by the The Associated Press said fleeing civilians faced danger and widespread shortages of essential supplies. Dual Diew, the Akobo County health director, who has fled to Ethiopia, said there were 84 wounded patients at the hospital. “We have most of them with us here now,” he said, adding that they lack medicine and basic nursing equipment.

Christophe Garnier, the leader of Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan said the organization had to evacuate its staff from Akobo on Saturday and learned of the subsequent looting of its hospital and the ransacking of its office.

“People in Akobo must now either flee without protection or remain at risk of being killed, while losing access to healthcare and other essential services,” he said.

The three Western governments that have played a major role in the peace process — the U.S, U.K., and Norway — sent a letter to President Kiir on Monday urging that the army's evacuation order be revoked and warning of “further deaths, displacement and suffering for the South Sudanese people” if the offensive on Akobo is implemented.

United Nations peacekeepers stand near an airstrip in Akobo, South Sudan, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Florence Miettaux)