Donte DiVincenzo is being one of the Knicks’ most pleasant surprises this season. Especially since they reached contender status with the signing of OG Anunoby. The shooting guard is having what is, by far, his best season in the NBA. The losses of Anunoby himself and Julius Randle, as well as the departures of Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barret and Quentin Grimes have expanded his role. And he owes it all to the man he first turned to to decide his future last summer: Stephen Curry.
In the season they were together, the Warriors star and DiVincenzo forged a beautiful friendship. Curry made an effort to mentor the former Villanova player and was close with him from the first moment. Therefore, when Minnesota Timberwolves and the New York Knicks were fighting over his signing, Donte didn’t hesitate who to call. «It was by video call. Steph, his family, and his security team were there. people whose opinion I don’t take lightly,” recalls the now Knicks player to The Athletic. “I told him to take the New York option, it’s what I would do and what I told him he should do,” adds Curry himself.
The rest is history, and DiVincenzo put his stamp on the contract to be knickers for four years and 47 million dollars. «It was the right option. A growing playoff team, which could pay him more than anyone else and in which he was going to have the closeness of players with whom he shared a university,” insists the Warriors player.
‘Professor’ Steph
But DiVincenzo not only ‘owes’ Steph for his great fit in the team led by Tom Thibodeau. Also a good part of his improvement in shooting is in his relationship with the best pitcher of all time. Not by chance, the guard is chaining his two best seasons of his career from the triple, where he has exceeded 40% (41,6%) for the first time this season. Since his arrival in the Bay Area, Donte has closely watched Curry’s shooting mechanics. “I thought that to execute the shot well you had to have your feet, hips and shoulders aligned,” he details. «But looking at him, I noticed that he was only concerned about having square shoulders. Since then, I began to prioritize the position as he did.
One more example of the undervalued ability of the greatest to improve those around them.