PHILADELPHIA — Villanova brought in three players in its 2015 recruiting class. Two of them, Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo, just bullied the 76ers out of the NBA playoffs with the New York Knicks — Brunson a bona fide star and DiVincenzo a do-it-all sidekick with a sweet 3-point stroke.

The third player in the class might make for a good answer to a question during the next Friends of Nova trivia night for Villanova’s boosters and NIL collective donors. Tim Delaney isn’t in the NBA. He has spent the last four years working at a few start-ups and then for Wells Fargo. While Brunson and DiVincenzo were opening their second-round series with the Knicks against the Pacers on Monday night, Delaney spent the day in sales for a trucking brokerage.

Brunson was a five-star recruit with an NBA pedigree. DiVincenzo was a four-star recruit from Wilmington who redshirted after an injury and then blossomed into a player who almost single-handedly won Villanova the 2018 NCAA championship. There are plenty of basketball-related reasons why they are playing the sport professionally and Delaney isn’t.

But Delaney, a four-star, 6-foot-8 forward who helped lead Pitman High School to a New Jersey Group 1 state title in 2014, never really had a chance. His hips wouldn’t allow for it. Sure, playing basketball at Villanova under Jay Wright gave Delaney a chance to learn a lot of things about the game and life, but unlike many of his peers, Delaney found that his aching hips made sure he couldn’t use the program as a vehicle to play the sport he loves so much after graduation.

Delaney had two hip surgeries to wipe out his freshman season with the Wildcats, who won the national title that season, and was limited to 26 total minutes as a sophomore. He then played 49 minutes the following season, which featured a third hip surgery, although he did get on the court in four of Villanova’s six games during the 2018 championship run, including as the horn sounded in the finale.

Doctors told him his basketball-playing days were over after he was barely able to play as a senior. Continuing to play would likely cause more injury. But Delaney wanted to keep going, so he transferred to Adelphi University on Long Island in 2019 as a graduate transfer to play Division II basketball with his younger brother, Andrew.

Why risk it?

“I guess partially because I’m just stubborn,” Delaney said. “I wanted to prove people wrong. You’re telling me I can’t do something, I’m going to do it. That’s just how I’m wired.”

Those doctors … “They ended up being right,” Delaney said. “It got so bad I became a candidate for hip replacement.”

End of the athletics road? Quite the opposite. A new world has opened for Delaney 15 months after double hip replacement surgery, and, at 27, he is plotting a comeback. He’s been put in touch with a professional team in Australia and plans to try out for the G League.

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