Donte DiVincenzo didn’t expect to be traded. Players rarely do when they sign multi-year contracts.
Yet there he was, standing in Madison Square Garden’s visiting locker room, not the home locker room he occupied all last season.
Now, he was wearing Timberwolves’ blue, green, and white—not the Knicks’ orange, white, and blue.
The NBA is unforgiving that way, and DiVincenzo learned it three days before the start of training camp.
The Knicks—who had signed him just a year prior, watched him break franchise records, and reunited him with his Villanova teammates—agreed to trade their three-point king along with three-time All-Star Julius Randle to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns.
“The timing is obviously not the most ideal, so figuring out the living situation, getting the family comfortable. That’s like the first thing you try to do. Because the basketball kind of takes care of itself,” DiVincenzo said at his locker ahead of tipoff between the Timberwolves and Knicks on Sunday. “You think about anything when you’re on the court. When you’re off the court, you just have to figure out logistics of life. I think that’s the biggest adjustment.”
DiVincenzo is no stranger to this kind of adjustment.
Drafted 17th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2018, his journey took a sharp turn when the Bucks decided to prioritize Grayson Allen, moving DiVincenzo to the Sacramento Kings at the 2022 trade deadline. From there, he spent a season with the Golden State Warriors, playing alongside Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, before inking a four-year, $47 million deal with the Knicks last summer.
Now, a year later, he’s on the move once again.
Soon after the trade, rumors surfaced suggesting DiVincenzo was unhappy with his offensive role following the arrival of Mikal Bridges. He’s been vocal in shutting those reports down, reaffirming his love for the Knicks and his time in New York on Sunday.
“It’s a thing that I wanted to address: Obviously all the reports came out that I was unhappy, this and that, I talked about it—it wasn’t true,” said DiVincenzo. “It was one of my best years of my life playing here last year. It’s something you dream about doing. I didn’t plan to get traded. I didn’t sign here thinking, ‘I’m signing a four-year deal, I hope I get traded a year in.’
“So that’s that part of it. You always got to separate the business aspect with the fans. I think the fans will always have a special place in my heart.”
Randle didn’t take the court on Sunday, as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery that ended his final season with the Knicks 46 games in.
DiVincenzo, however, made his return to Madison Square Garden, welcomed by a warm ovation from the preseason crowd.
Just before his name was called, DiVincenzo reflected on the emotional rollercoaster he experienced when he learned he’d be heading to the Western Conference.
“I think there’s a process to [getting traded]: Initially, you don’t sign a longterm deal somewhere and hope you get traded. Your process is initially, ‘Damn I got traded.’ Then you’re saying, ‘Where am I going? What’s the situation like?’” he explained.
“When I started thinking about the situation, the players I’m with, the organization, top to bottom, I started to get this level of excitement just to get out there. Because it was a team I was interested in in free agency. So to have that team want you and include you in a trade, you see all the quotes and everything, it means a lot.
“So there’s an excitement level. You look at the roster and you’re like, ‘it’s a really good team.’ So initially, it was like, ‘Damn, I just got traded.’ I was hurt, kind of sad, and then you transition to the next process of the job, the business aspect, and just understanding you move forward and now my mind is completely in Minnesota, and that’s it.”
It certainly helped that DiVincenzo wasn’t making this transition alone.
Being traded alongside Randle allowed both players to navigate the upheaval together. Sharing the experience softened the blow, as they leaned on each other for support during the whirlwind of relocation and adjustment.
“We became really close over the last year. We had our initial feelings or reactions to the trade. And then you process it: ‘Alright cool, we’re going to Minnesota,’” DiVincenzo said. “But the best thing is we’re going together. No matter what, during practice or whatever. There’s kind of habits that we’re used to doing together.”
DiVincenzo also mentioned Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch is working to integrate some of the offensive sets that both he and Randle used during their time with the Knicks.
“So stuff will break down and we go right to it. And the thing about the staff is Finch is: ‘let’s use it, let’s do it. What can we do to best utilize Julius and get the best out of Donte as well while still keeping our core principles?’”
DiVincenzo explained. “They’ve done an amazing job. There’s been no lag time, hiccup time. It just feels seamless and that’s all you can ask for.””
Finch has had his eye on DiVincenzo for a while.
The Timberwolves had him on their radar during his free agency in 2023, and when the Knicks included him in the offer for Towns, it was a game-changer for Minnesota. Initially, the Wolves reportedly rejected an offer featuring Mitchell Robinson, but the addition of DiVincenzo, especially after he broke the Knicks’ records for most threes in a season and in a game, helped push the deal through.
“I didn’t know the shooting was going to be that explosive. We love his overall game,” Finch said on Sunday. “His off-ball skills were on display at Golden State, just trying to move, crashing, working the baseline and finishing at the rim. We felt that he could shoot the ball well for sure.”
The Wolves started DiVincenzo at the two for Sunday’s matchup against the Knicks, with superstar guard Anthony Edwards playing the one.
Minnesota hopes the two can be their back court solution as veteran guard Mike Conley transitions to the latter stage of his career, and rookie point guard Rob Dillingham is not yet able to make an impact on a team with championship aspirations.
“In our situation, there were secondary playmaking opportunities which we’ve seen in camp he’s really excelling at,” Finch continues about DiVincenzo. “He’s found a good rhythm with [starting center Rudy Gobert], which is not always easy to do, and he’s got a good feel there, been able to play-make, so that’s an added bonus for us. But yeah he’s certainly, for us, a guy we’ve really wanted and a guy going forward next to Anthony is an ideal fit.”
“[Edwards is] a talented player, special person. So far I’ve been with him, we shoot after practice. His spirit, his energy is contagious. I’ve been here for what, two weeks now? There hasn’t been a bad day,” DiVincenzo added. “That’s all I’ve been hearing is the dude doesn’t have bad days. Comes in with a smile on his face every single day. When you have that for your main guy, it’s contagious.”
