Donte DiVincenzo has already been back to the Garden once, getting into an altercation with the Knicks bench and having to leave assistant coach Rick Brunson after preseason games in October.
But DiVincenzo and teammate Julius Randle will play in their first significant game against the Knicks on Thursday night in Minnesota since being parted in a blockbuster trade for Karl-Anthony Towns just before the start of training camp. We will be competing against each other.
“I still keep in touch with those guys. They're still family,” DiVincenzo said Wednesday after the Timberwolves' practice in Minnesota. “I watch the games and everything, but it’s a different, different perspective if you will, and I’m more of just a fan of the players over there.
“I wish them all the best, both individually and collectively.”
While Randle is averaging 20.1 points in his return from season-ending shoulder surgery, DiVincenzo has struggled to find his footing with the Timberwolves.
After posting a 40.1 clip in his only season with the Knicks, he's only 8.3 points and shooting 31.9 percent from 3-point range.
“I don't think a) it's unusual to make a deal the day before media day. It takes time for both sides to adjust,” DiVincenzo said. “Great things take time. I think that's the case on our side, and it's the same on their side. I think KAT is playing really well, but I think other players will adapt to his way of doing things. It will take some time.”
Josh Hart similarly said last week that he and Jalen Brunson reiterated Wednesday that DiVincenzo and Randle were a big part of the Knicks' identity last season.
They noted that despite Towns starting 16-10 and Towns averaging about 25 points and 14 rebounds per game, the current team is still trying to establish its identity. I admitted it.
“Like I said, this is an adjustment,” DiVincenzo said. “KAT was here for nine years, what was that? The guy was here for nine years. Same thing.
“When he leaves here, there will be a hole and what he brought will be empty. Similarly, even if I was there for a year, even if Julius missed half the year. I was there for five years. When a guy spends a lot of time in an organization and is around people, you get used to what you get every day. So come here and try to be yourself. .”
As for the conflict between the senior Brunson and the Knicks bench during the preseason, DiVincenzo said that incident was the culprit.
“Families talk, families move forward, and that's it,” said DiVincenzo, who was teammates with Jalen Brunson, Hurts and freshman Nick Mikal Bridges at Villanova. “I wish them, of course, all the people out there, constant individual success and collective success.
“I want the same thing for everyone here. That's it. Families talk, families move forward.”
Randle didn't go into too much detail about the matchup against the Knicks, calling it “a different game” and just “playing basketball.”
“I'm going to go home, play with my kids, eat, and then go to bed,” Randall said. “I’m going to wake up in the morning, go to the range, maybe get a little treatment, and then I’m going to shoot.
“Then I'm going to go home, have breakfast, and then go to the arena and play the game.”
When asked about Hart's comments that the Knicks are still trying to find their identity without him and DiVincenzo, the three-time All-Star responded, I won't play there anymore. ”
—Additional reporting by Stefan Bondy
