While he played just one season for the New York Knicks, Donte DiVincenzo became a beloved player by the fan base. It was a career-best scoring season in 2023-24 in what was his sixth year in the league. He set a single-season team record with 283 made 3-pointers.
When the Knicks traded for Karl-Anthony Towns, it seemed more fans were upset about losing Donte rather than three-time All-Star Julius Randle. With New York down 2-1 in their opening round series, as well as Mikal Bridges’ miserable start, it seems that DiVincenzo is missed even more. This is especially the case as DiVincenzo has performed wonderfully for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the playoffs.
DiVincenzo is playing like he did in 2024
When the Knicks traded for Mikal Bridges, it looked like the 'Nova Knicks' had extended to four members. DiVincenzo, Jalen Brunson, and Josh Hart would be reunited with their college teammate. Of course, that didn’t happen as DiVincenzo was soon shipped to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
His first postseason last year with the Wolves wasn’t his best work. Through three games of the Denver Nuggets series, though, the 29-year-old is looking more like the guy who was so impactful for the Knicks in the 2024 playoffs.
Plus/minus is an imperfect stat, but the last two games show how well Minnesota has played with Donte on the court. The team has been a plus-20 with him in both Games 2 and 3.Â
He’s also found his outside touch after an inconsistent end to the regular season from deep. DiVincenzo has knocked down half of his 3-point tries (11-for-22), and he has even dished out 13 assists over the last two games.
In 13 playoff games for the Knicks in 2024, Donte connected on just shy of 3.5 3-pointers per game and made them at a 42.5 percent clip. While they lost in seven games to the Indiana Pacers in the 2024 Eastern Conference semifinals, DiVincenzo made at least five threes in four of those contests.
Undoubtedley, Wolves fans are thrilled that DiVincenzo's high-quality production.
Bridges may have hit rock bottomÂ
While the Knicks 3-point shooting hasn’t been terrible over the first three games of their series against the Atlanta Hawks (35.1 percent), they are shooting them with a lot less frequency than they did in the regular season. They could use a player like DiVincenzo, who is never shy about hoisting up attempts from deep.
Of course, the main reason that some Knicks fans may be wishing that DiVincenzo was still around is because of his replacement in the starting lineup (Bridges). It was an ugly offensive performance for Mikal in Game 3 as he went scoreless and played less than five minutes in the second half.
In Game 2, he missed the potential game-winner at the buzzer when he seemingly settled for a tough fadeaway over Jalen Johnson instead of taking it to the hole for an easier shot, or perhaps the opportunity to draw a foul.
The plus/minus from Bridges in Game 3 was an ugly minus-26 in 21 minutes. That is even more glaring being that the Knicks only lost by a point. It wouldn’t be shocking if there is a starting lineup change for NY in Game 4, involving Mikal heading to the bench.
The two steals that Bridges had to secure Game 1 and 2 wins over the Boston Celtics in last season’s Eastern Conference semifinals are getting further and further in the rearview mirror.
When Knicks fans turn on the Timberwolves, they can’t help but think about where the team would be if they had found a way to hold on to Donte in the deal for Towns.
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