Massive Return Incoming... Brunson Pushing for Major Trade

March 25th, 2024, a New York Knicks guard makes 11 threes against Detroit, 40 points, a franchise record that nobody in 78 years of Knicks basketball had touched. That guard was Dante DiVincenzo, and this week, Jalen Brunson said the lines that Knicks fans have been thinking for two years, I miss my boy Dante. So here's the whole story, what Dante DiVincenzo actually did in New York. Regular season and playoffs. Why the Knicks traded him, where he is now, because it is not good news. And the three ways the Knicks could get him back after Jalen Brunson specifically called for the return of his good friend and former Knicks and college teammate at Villanova, Dante DiVincenzo. And I will tell you up front which one is realistic because there is one clear answer here for the Knicks. Now, obviously, everyone does want the New York Knicks to win the finals this year, and they want to get DiVincenzo before that so they can have him for the playoff push, and the Knicks could have an even better chance at the finals. But right now on Cal State, they have a 9% chance to win the NBA title, and right now, that is a great... Great chance for you to get on Calci, who I do want to thank as being the sponsor of this video, because on Calci, you're trading directly against other users, not the house like traditional sportsbooks. You're buying yes or no contracts on the outcomes of events across sports, politics, and even the weather. For example, the Knicks winning that NBA championship where they have a 9% chance on Calci to do so. Now, guys, if you are to trade $25 on that, you would get a max payout of over $250. It is a great deal for you. It helps the channel out a bunch as well because when you want to sign up for Calci, click the link in our description. It's also in our pinned comment and use code DIGESTNBA when signing up because then you get $55 when you trade your first $25. It's a great deal, man. But diving into the video, let's start with how Dante DiVincenzo got to the Knicks. In July of 2023, the Knicks... Did sign Dante DiVincenzo on the mid-level exception deal, and it was a Villanova reunion for Brunson and Josh Hart, three guys from the same program who won a championship together, all in the same locker room once again. And then in the 2023-24 regular season, Dante played 81 games and averaged 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists with 1.3 steals in 29.1 minutes. But the real number that matters is 283. That's how many threes he made, and it's the most in a single season in Knicks history. The old guard on that list was Evan Fournier a couple years prior, Julius Randle with 218 after that, John Starks with 217. Brunson was fifth that same year with 211, and that was not a one-night thing either. He scored 40 against Detroit, 30 against Indiana in December, 36 against Dallas in February, and 33 against Utah in January. Four of those games, 33 points or more, off the bench sometimes and in the starting lineup other times, but by the end of the year, he was in the starting lineup every night, even before the end of the year. It didn't take long for him to replace Quentin Grimes. Remember him? In the starting unit. And remember what this Knicks team was as well. A 50-win team, the second seed in the East, and the group that Brunson did carry. Dante gave him a secondary shooter who could take the pressure off every night, and obviously Julius Randle was there for a stretch before having his season ended by an injury. And on March 25th, against Detroit, he went 11-for-12 from three. 40 points, a career high, and a Knicks single-game record. The old mark, 10, was held in a tie by J.R. Smith. And you put all that together in a full season in one place. And as we see, NilesMaxwell758 wrote under our last video, the problem with the Knicks lineup has been shooting inconsistencies. That is the Knicks problem in one sentence. The exact problem that Dante DiVincenzo had solved in New York. Now the playoffs, where DiVincenzo really exploded. Dante averaged 17.8 points in 35.8 minutes a game and made 45 threes. That's 3.5 a game. Now, round one against Philadelphia was uneven. 12 points and 2.33s over the first six games and the Knicks won four to two. But game two, he hit the three pointer that finished the comeback and put the Knicks up 104 to 101 and 2-0 off an Isaiah Hartenstein rebound. DiVincenzo hit one of the most electric threes. It was honestly probably every Knicks fan's favorite play until OG Ananobi tipped the ball and to give him a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. Of finals, they would obviously go on to eventually win. But in game two back then, he hit that three-pointer, which changed a lot. And then in Indiana against round two, he turned into a different player. 22.7 points and 4.4 threes per game over seven games. And 35 points and seven threes in a game three, a loss. And then game seven, 39 points and nine threes. Nobody made more threes in one game in the 2024 playoffs. The Dicks lost 130 to 109 as every single player, Brunson, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Doji Ananobi. The rest of the starting five, they were all injured and played different amounts in that series. Now, to be fair, it was not all fire. Games four and five against Indiana, he scored seven and eight points and made one shot from deep between them. Playoff shooters have those nights. What made him valuable is what he did when it was close. And the part that really stings is in the biggest moment of that season, the Knicks guard that nobody counted on was their best shooter and did everything the team could ask for. No one thought it would be his last game in New York. We thought this was just the beginning. September 27th, 2024, it was reported that Carl Anthony Towns was coming to New York for Julius Randle. Dante DiVincenzo and a first-round pick. Yahoo reported that the Knicks were crushed that they had to give him up to get Towns. That is a team admitting it was losing something real, and it got awkward fast. And in October 2024 preseason game, Dante and Jalen Brunson's dad, Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson, had a heated exchange at the Garden, which is why my I-miss-my-boy Dante hits. These two have known each other since Villanova, and the Knicks went on to win the 2026 title without him. That tells you the roster was good enough. It does not tell you the bench was deep enough, even though it was, and Landry Shemmich replaced DiVincenzo beautifully. But on our last video, a fan said the bench has been the weak spot after opening night. As we did see right here, Alan Medirian, Mets 1380 wrote, thus far, this bench has been mostly terrible. And yeah, and the Knicks feel it, but there is another thing here. Now, one side is, the Knicks actually never did want to trade DiVincenzo for Towns. They offered Mitchell Robinson, but the Minnesota Timberwolves had Rudy Gobert and Nas Reed. They didn't see how Mitch, who was still injured at the time and ended up not even coming back till, I mean, March of that next year, the Timberwolves didn't want him. And that first-round pick was involved. It was the same offer, just Mitch instead of Dante, and obviously that happened. Now, between Dante and Rick Brunson, Rick was on the podcast on Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart's podcast soon after that. And he did clarify that this was not some big sort of beef thing and that families fight and clearly it's not a big problem or Jalen would not still be openly talking about Dante and how he misses him and they would not be doing commercials together with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikael Bridges and now the odd man out Dante DiVincenzo who is in Minnesota. Now, as I just mentioned, DiVincenzo is in Minnesota, where he was still doing his thing. Our data has him at 30.4 minutes a game, 5.9 above the break three points attempts, which is 93% tie on the league, and also has a plus 6.2 net rating. And the 2026 playoffs, before it got heard, our data has him shooting 50% from the field against 40.6% in the regular season. His field goal percentage in the paint hit 83.3. Small sample, but certainly he was good there. Then, in the first round of the playoffs this April, he ruptured his right Achilles. Game four against Denver, April 25th. Surgery the next day, he was going to be out for a while. The reported window of return runs from the All-Star break in February to around April of 2027. He said in late September he expects to play this season. Minnesota had not given a date. And his contract, this is the last year of his four years, His cap at this season is $12.5 million. Next summer, he is a free agent, guys. So how exactly do the Knicks get him back, speaking of free agents? Well, there are three paths. A trade this season, a trade at the deadline, or free agency next summer. Now, Start with the trade. Minnesota does not have anything. Brian Windhorst reported in August the Wolves had no plans to trade him this season. And Ian Begley said both sides see a deal as highly unlikely right now. And the Knicks books are not built for it. This year, Towns is averaging around $57.1 million at the rate that he's at right now. OG Ananobi's at $42.5 million, Brunson's at $37.7, Bridges is at $33.5, and Hart is at $20.9. That's $221 million before you add anyone else, and reports say that James Dolan does not want to go above the second apron. So any trade that has to send out matching money, Begley said that means Josh Hart in reality, and then also back in the day last year, he mentioned Mitchell Robinson, who obviously is off. Boston. And Dante's $12.5 million is the number to watch. A team above the second apron can't take him back and they can't take back more salary that it sends out. They expect to send out at least $12.5 million. Well, not exactly, but pretty close to bring him back. And so a trade is certainly a long shot. A trade at the deadline is worse because he's hurt. Why would Minnesota sell a recovering player when they could just wait for him to come back and use him in the next playoffs? It just doesn't really make a ton of sense, which leaves free agency, which is the And the timing is almost perfect. Perfect. His contract ends in June, 2027. Towns is a $61 million player option for 2027, 28. And Josh Hart is a team option at 22.4 million, but free agency has its own wall team that sits above the second apron generally cannot sign players above the minimum. So the Knicks right now, they are not above the second apron, so they can make a deal. They can use that mid-level exception, but it would be tough because it would put them in the second apron, which is where things. Do get awkward, especially when Dante DiVincenzo will have offers around. And remember Towns, he's got a $61 million option and extension talks are paused. If he opts out, the Knicks suddenly have a lot of room to work with, but if he stays, that room disappears and it becomes even harder. So the honest answer is that the Knicks can get him only if they plan for it. Keep a roster spot, keep flexibility, and hope that he wants to come back and form this Nova Knicks, the greatest Knicks team that never was. So really when we look at it, Brunson misses him because the Knicks miss him. The numbers say it, 283 threes and 45 playoff threes in just two rounds, the 39 in Game 7, the 39 points he had in Game 7, that kind of shooting does not grow on trees, and the Knicks can't find it. Will he be a Knick again? I say it is possible for sure, but it's hard to kind of work it out, and honestly, the Knicks really should try to plan before his Achilles heels to pull something off. For DiVincenzo, it would be tough to make him agree to money unless he's a terrible, terrible return from injury or doesn't even return and he wants to rehab with the Knicks. I do think it would make sense if he did sign a one-year deal with the Knicks as he tries to rehab his injury because maybe teams won't fully trust the return if he doesn't come back or plays poorly. The Knicks could get him on a cheap deal and all of a sudden they do have Dante back and they can use him in a nice role where he's shooting a lot of corner threes with the way Mike Brown likes to coach an offense. Honestly, it does work out well. It's a team that fits Dante, who'd be one of the leaders off the bench. The Knicks likely can't bring back Deuce McBride anyway. Dante will be cheaper than Deuce McBride in free agency. It kind of does give the Knicks a pretty interesting window to go out and actually retain Dante DiVincenzo if they can't afford to bring back Deuce McBride. So it certainly is interesting. And honestly, what Brunson's quote really tells you is the best players in the league know who made their team work. Dante was not an all-star. He was the guy who made the stars better. And you could see it in Brunson's face and just the fact that Brunson cares about him, that he knows him. And honestly, that is something wonderful. And we do see from GSMQ9481 who said on the comment of the day, the Knicks are spoiling Tyler Kolek. He is much better than starting point guards out there. Obviously, that's true. So if the Knicks do move on from Deuce, they would be able to use Tyler Kulik and Dante, which is an elite bench backcourt. And every number you saw in this video, the cap sheets, the game logs, they all come from DigestSports.com. Go take a look at the Knicks cap page yourself. There's the link in the description as well. But tell me, does Dante DiVincenzo ever end up back in New York? Well, outside of that, guys, we got a bunch more stories coming out, some on Dante, most on everything else regarding the Knicks. We want to make sure to be subscribed. Like this video, turn on post notifications. Have a wonderful, wonderful Thursday, you guys, and go next.