Donte DiVincenzo may have only played for one season with the Golden State Warriors but the organization, especially Stephen Curry left an indelible mark on him.
DiVincenzo is enjoying his finest NBA season after leaving the Warriors for the New York Knicks in free agency.
On Thursday, January 18, during the Knicks’ 113-109 win over another ex-Warriors guard Jordan Poole and the Washington Wizards, DiVincenzo hit 5 of 12 3-pointers to hike his total to 110 at the halfway mark of the season. He is on pace to break his career-high 150 3s with the Warriors last season.
He credited the Warriors for his breakout year.
“Absolutely, working with (Warriors development coach) Chris Weems. Got a lot of reps up, I think that was the biggest thing,” DiVincenzo said via SNY after the win. “Just watching how Steph goes about (his preparation). Steph, Jordan (Poole) and Klay (Thompson) were huge for me in just seeing how they prepared every day.
“I watched Steph go 1-for-12 and come in the next day and shoot 1,000 shots. And I’ve seen him go 12-for-12 and come in (the next day) and shoot 1,000 shots. So it just taught me the preparation (needed) to be able to have the confidence in-game. Coming over here, I’m not changing anything about my routine….Good game, bad game. Good shooting night, doesn’t matter. I’ll just come in and do the same thing every night.”
DiVincenzo is flourishing as the Knicks starting shooting guard next to his Villanova teammate Jalen Brunson. Through his first 42 games in New York, DiVincenzo is averaging 11.2 points on 45.5% shooting from the field and 42.5% from deep, which are all career-highs.
Steph Curry: ‘The Knicks Got a Good One’
Curry spoke glowingly about DiVincenzo after landing a four-year, $50 million deal with the Knicks in the offseason.
“The Knicks got a good one and I’m happy that he got his fair share of that CBA, too. So it was good,” Curry said of his former teammate via New York Daily News on July 13.
DiVincenzo outplayed his $4.5 million salary last season as a key reserve for the Warriors. He averaged 9.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.3 steals on 39.7 percent shooting as one of their top reserves last season.
“He’s all about basketball, he’s all about winning. He brings great energy to the locker room. I used to call him the vet even though he’s still on the younger side [26 years old] just because he has that spirit about him,” Curry said via New York Daily News. “And he plays way beyond his years. He’s good on both sides of the ball. He can playmake better than most people probably realize. So he fills a lot of holes on teams. And he’s not selfish in the respect of — I know he wants to start and be that guy, but he also understands where the value can be created on a team no matter what role you’re asked to do. And he bought in right away. And he got rewarded for it.”
NBA Postpones Warriors-Mavericks Game
The grieving Warriors are not playing under further notice.
The NBA is postponing the Warriors-Dallas Mavericks game on Friday, January 19, to a later date. It will be the second postponement in the Warriors’ schedule after the untimely passing of their assistant coach Dejan Milojević on Wednesday, January 17, in Salt Lake, Utah.
Milojević, 46, suffered a heart attack at a private team dinner ahead of their scheduled road game against the Utah Jazz.
The Serbian coach joined the Warriors coaching staff in 2021 following his Montenegrin League championship run earlier that year. The following year, he won an NBA championship with the Warriors.