LAS VEGAS — On Thursday night, the Villanova contingent at Team USA’s training camp went out to dinner together at CATCH, an Asian seafood restaurant at the Aria Resort and Casino.
That group included the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges of the Nets and their former coach, Jay Wright.
The missing member of the Knicks’ trio of Villanova alumni, however, was the one who quickly came up in conversation.
“Donte [DiVincenzo] wasn’t at the dinner, just the other guys, but they were talking about Donte and how proud of him they are and his professionalism,” Wright told The Post after Team USA’s practice Friday. “So I think it’s gonna be a great mix. They’re all gonna play to win. They take great pride at this point in their career of making the Knicks a winner.”
DiVincenzo will enter the 2023-24 season as an object of curiosity by dint of being the only major addition Knicks president Leon Rose has made this offseason to a group that won 47 games and a playoff series in 2022-23.
DiVincenzo inked a four-year, $46.8 million deal with the Knicks, taking up most of the mid-level exception — money the team was able to spend in part because Hart took a discount by picking up a $12.9 million option on his contract instead of going on the open market.
The 26-year-old DiVincenzo has played a series of roles in college and the NBA, from coming off the bench for a championship Villanova team to starting for a championship Milwaukee Bucks team.
It’s not clear, therefore, whether the best way for the Knicks to utilize him will be as a starter or a sixth man.
A 39.7 percent 3-point shooter last season for the Warriors, DiVincenzo figures to add a needed element of spacing to a Knicks team that ranked 19th league wide in 3-point percentage.
Wright stressed, however, that his skill-set goes beyond that.
“Donte’s got an incredible work ethic and basketball IQ,” Wright said. “He’s one of those guys on the different teams he’s played for, whatever they need him to do, he can do. I know with Milwaukee, he spread the ball, set screens, defended, rebounded, even from the guard spot. With Golden State, he shot a little bit more, scored a little bit more. Can run pick-and-roll.
“He’s one of those guys that’s gonna do whatever the team needs him to do and he enjoys that. He did that for us and he’s done that at every NBA team he was on.”
Building chemistry should be no issue given that DiVincenzo, Brunson and Hart (as well as Bridges) won an NCAA title together in 2016, before Hart left for the NBA and the others added a second trophy to the shield in 2018.
Wright coached both teams.
“[DiVincenzo] brings an edge, a mentality,” Brunson said. “He’s the type of player that can do everything. He wants to win, he’s doing whatever it takes to win. He just has that mindset. It’s something that we need to be a better team. And not only does he have that mindset, he has that will to win. It’s kinda contagious with everybody.”
Added Hart: “He’s a New York-style player. That blue-collar, hardworking, that’s what he does. Gonna go defend multiple positions. Be tough, be gritty, help us win games. New York is gonna love him. He’s definitely a guy that we needed, that we wanted.”
DiVincenzo is not the kind of superstar who has eluded the Knicks since Carmelo Anthony left, but he has a history of big performances in big moments.
Ahead of the 2018 national title game against Michigan, the focus was on how the Wolverines could slow down Brunson, who had won various National Player of the Year awards.
DiVincenzo ended up coming off the bench to score 31 points, vaulting Villanova to a championship in what turned out to be his last college game.
“We really thought next year he could be one of the best players in college basketball,” Wright said. “After that performance, there was no need to come back for another year.”
Instead, Wright was left with some good stories to tell over dinner.
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