Villanova Knicks reflect on Donte DiVincenzo trade: 'It's a business'

NEW YORK — Tom Thibodeau can’t comment directly on players involved in incomplete trades.

So when a reporter asked the Knicks head coach about Donte DiVincenzo, the franchise’s all-time single-season 3-point leader who was traded alongside Julius Randle as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns deal, during his Monday media day press conference, Thibodeau, who speaks on behalf of the front office, reluctantly declined to give an answer.

“I’m not gonna comment on that,” he said.

Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges, however, live by a different set of rules — the code of a brotherhood formed as college teammates at Villanova.

It was a bond expected to strengthen this upcoming season when the four players, as chance would have it, briefly reunited with the Knicks striking a deal for Bridges in July.

“Donte, he was a groomsman at my wedding,” Brunson said during Knicks Media Day at the Tarrytown Training Facility Monday morning. "So that should tell you everything you need to know about our relationship. I love him to death, and we’ll see ‘em soon.”

The reunion happened over FaceTime, but won’t make it to game time, at least not until the Wolves face the Knicks in a preseason matchup at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 13.

DiVincenzo and Randle join Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid on a Minnesota Timberwolves title contender fresh off a Western Conference finals run.

And while the Knicks hope Towns’ all-world talent as an aggressive 3-point shooter and scorer at the center position lifts the franchise to heights unseen since 1973, the thought of DiVincenzo on another team ruins the dreams of what could have been for the previous iteration of the Nova Knicks. After all, DiVincenzo did average a career-high 15.5 points per game, a number that ticked up after the RJ Barrett-Immanuel Quickley trade to the Toronto Raptors.

And he did hit the game-winning shot to lift the Knicks to a 2-0 series lead over the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs last season. And he did guard the point of attack, running himself into the ground so Brunson could conserve his energy for the offensive side of the ball.

And he did become a fan favorite, a beloved Knick who will be showered with raucous applause every time he steps foot on the Garden floor. DiVincenzo’s contributions will be missed by a team that could now use additional firepower in the backcourt.

But the NBA is a business first, second and last.

And the business can be ugly, as Brunson knows first-hand.

“It’s tough, but I mean, growing up with a dad [Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson] who was on nine unguaranteed contracts and played in eight different cities or whatever, you quickly know that it’s a business,” he said. “And yeah, it’s not fun at all to lose those two [Donte and Julius Randle] like that, but I wish them nothing but the best and know that those guys are my brothers for real.”

The trade is not yet finalized. The Knicks must send additional outgoing salary to match Towns’ incoming contract.

But for all intents and purposes — and even if Thibodeau can’t publicly comment — the deal is complete, at least in principle, and DiVincenzo’s tenure in New York came to an abrupt, emotional end.

Bridges, who projects to slot into what used to be DiVincenzo’s starting two guard spot, pushed back on the idea that a lack of offensive opportunity among a suddenly crowded crop of perimeter scorers resulted in his former Villanova teammate wanting out of New York.

“Um, I think everybody — it all would have worked out,” he said on Monday. “The main goal’s to win. I think that’s the biggest thing is try to be out there, produce and win games.”

DiVincenzo, of course, wasn’t available to speak for himself.

Instead, it was Towns who was spotted pulling up to the training facility moments before media day began on Monday. Mitchell Robinson’s unmistakable gray monster truck with Tiffany blue accents was also parked right outside the training facility’s front doors, but he did not speak on Monday, either.

Brunson, Bridges, Anunoby, Hart and Towns project to lead this franchise back to the promised land.

DiVincenzo was part of those plans, but while the goal is still the same — winning an NBA title — the crew has changed. The crew must march on without one of its founding members as it works to establish a new beginning with Towns and Anunoby, and whatever wild experiment this front office concocts next.