Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo opens up on his trade from the New York Knicks and his … [+]
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo knows what it takes to win a championship.
The veteran guard is one of the few players who can claim an NBA championship and an NCAA National Title to his resume. In fact, DiVincenzo is a two-time National Champion and a March Madness hero dating back to his days with the Villanova Wildcats.
It was at Villanova where DiVincenzo became a national name when he won Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors after he had the game of his life when he scored a career-high 31 points along with five three-pointers in the championship win over the Michigan Wolverines – all while coming off of the bench.
What’s even rarer is seeing three key members of that title team (2017-18) – along with Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges – and four key members of the 2015-16 Wildcats National Championship team (with Josh Hart) team up together on an NBA squad at the same time. That happened to occur with the New York Knicks last season, when the “Nova Knicks” pushed the Indiana Pacers to seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Although it was short-lived with DiVincenzo being traded to the Timberwolves prior to the start of the season, he calls the experience “great” after reuniting with Brunson, Hart and Bridges.
“It was great because when things got haywire in the game you have that that connection, that almost unspoken connection,’ says DiVincenzo in a one-on-one interview. ”You know where everybody’s going to be, you know where people are, what they’re going to do, you know their tendencies and when things get out of whack per se, you can always go back to that comfort zone and get everything settled down.”
The “Nova Knicks” led the franchise to its best season since the 2012-13 campaign and saw Brunson finish fifth in MVP voting while posting his first All-Star season.
“I think having those years together, having that relationship, it really helped us in some pivotal games last season,” says DiVincenzo.
DiVincenzo is now with the Timberwolves, where he’s helping lead the resurgent squad back to its winning ways. Although Minnesota is coming off of a tough 132-130 overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers, they had been on an eight-game winning streak. That’s in large part due to the 6-foot-4 guard’s play, with DiVincenzo averaging 15.3 points, 4.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game on 50.5% from the field and 48.6% from beyond the arc in the month of March alone.
That also just so happens to coincide with the returns of former All-Stars Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert. Minnesota is currently just seventh in the West (40-30), but they’re playing their best ball of the season right before the playoffs start. It also helps that they’re finally healthy for the first time since early January.
“I’m having a hell of a time out here,” says DiVincenzo of playing in Minnesota. “It’s super fun. The fans are absolutely amazing. The organization is amazing. Going back to free agency, (Minnesota) is one of the teams that I was considering. It’s not like I went somewhere where I wasn’t wanted, but also that I didn’t want to be at.”
While DiVincenzo acknowledges that the trade from New York was tough considering he had to say goodbye to his brothers, he mentions how they all still stay in touch with frequent communication – which lessens the sting of the trade.
“What made it easy is playing with some former teammates and some of my closest friends where we are talking every day anyway, so it’s like you don’t even realize you kind of get traded,” says DiVincenzo. “Because you’re talking to a bunch of your teammates every day anyway, and you’re having normal conversations. It’s not about the business side of things.”
The deal occurred literally right before the start of the season in early October.
“The thing that’s missed in the NBA is how fast everything moves,” says DiVincenzo. “You don’t have time to to have a Kumbaya before you leave. The trade happens and you’re out and you’re moving forward and so many moving parts and you’re trying to get ready. Once you get time to sit down and reflect, and that’s when you talk to everybody and have your conversations.”
DiVincenzo is actually partnering up with AT&T for a commercial that’s already go viral due to how much sense it makes. The former Villanova guard is starring alongside his former college teammates – Brunson, Bridges and Hart — for a hilarious March Madness commercial that references his departure from New York.
“To be able to jump on an opportunity with some of your closest friends at the time of the year — the amount of memories it brings up, the amount of great moments we had,” says DiVincenzo. “But there were so many different layers to the commercial that were so intriguing that when you break it down and it’s a funny, quirky, commercial that was really enjoyable.”
The Villanova alum says they filmed the commercial in January right before the Timberwolves’ game at Madison Square Garden on January 17. It was the first time all four of them had reunited since the trade went down in October.
“It was funny because obviously we talk every single day, but it’s a whole different change,” says DiVincenzo. “Being around them every single day, you get traded halfway across the country, and then you come back and you see no time missed. It’s like we still lived together like we were back in college. It was a lot of fun, a lot of jokes. Definitely needed a bunch of takes because of so many jokes.
“I think we could have gotten through it a little bit faster if we were locked in a little bit more,” DiVincenzo continues to say. “But that’s just how you get the genuine authenticity of where we come from.”
