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Tim Bontemps, ESPN
The New York Knicks agreed Saturday to a four-year, $50 million contract with free agent guard Donte DiVincenzo, his agent, Jason Glushon, told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, reuniting him with former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart.
DiVincenzo, 26, is coming off a strong season with the Golden State Warriors, with whom he averaged 9.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists across 72 regular-season games (36 starts) while shooting a career-high 39.7% from 3-point range on 5.3 attempts per game.
After the Knicks signed Brunson in free agency last summer, and then sent a first-round pick to the Portland Trail Blazers for Hart at February’s trade deadline, they now add a third Villanova product in the span of a year by landing DiVincenzo, one of the top role players available in this year’s free agent class.
DiVincenzo turned down a $4.7 million player option for next season earlier this week; the expectation was he would get a significant raise from that number on the open market, and he ultimately did so with the Knicks.
He gives New York another strong defender and solid 3-point shooter on the perimeter, continuing to fit within the mold of what the team has built under coach Tom Thibodeau, joining a perimeter rotation that includes Hart, Brunson, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Quentin Grimes.
Earlier Saturday, the Knicks sent forward Obi Toppin to the Indiana Pacers for a pair of future second-round picks in a move that both opened up a rotation spot in New York and cleared salary to help fit DiVincenzo under the $172.3 million hard cap triggered by giving him the non-taxpayer midlevel exception.
DiVincenzo was a first-round pick by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2018 NBA draft and spent parts of four seasons with the Bucks, including starting 66 regular-season games in Milwaukee’s championship-winning 2021 season before missing most of the playoffs with an ankle injury.
He was dealt to the Sacramento Kings at the 2022 trade deadline before signing a one-year deal with a player option for a second with Golden State last summer.
The Knicks hope the addition of DiVincenzo will allow them to build on the success of last season, when New York won a playoff series for the first time in a decade by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games. The Knicks eventually lost to the Miami Heat in six games in the next round.