Donte DiVincenzo settles into role with the Timberwolves, thanks to fatherhood and clean bill of health

MINNEAPOLIS — In a few strides and one slide, Donte DiVincenzo traveled from the right elbow on the 76ers’ side of the floor to the sideline near the right wing of the opposite end.

The Timberwolves combo guard jumped a passing lane to tip a ball intended for Quentin Grimes and kept running, then hit the deck to knock it away from Lonnie Walker IV and save it from going out of bounds, then tapped it to teammate Nickeil Alexander-Walker for the layup to give Minnesota a 14-point fourth-quarter lead with 7 minutes, 10 seconds to play.

That hustle was recognizable to anybody who has followed DiVincenzo throughout his basketball career, from when he was the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association Player of the Year in 2015 at Salesianum School in Wilmington to the Final Four Most Outstanding Player in 2018 at Villanova to an NBA champion in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks and a beloved “’Nova Knick.”

Still, it has been quite the 10 months since DiVincenzo, then with the Knicks, last faced the Sixers. During last spring’s playoffs, his Game 2-winning three-pointer sent Madison Square Garden into a frenzy during an entertaining first-round series.

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DiVincenzo was part of the return package in the blockbuster trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns from the Timberwolves to the Knicks, breaking up the former college teammates who had helped revitalize a storied franchise. He dealt with a toe injury that kept him sidelined for over a month before returning to the floor a week ago. His most rewarding change, though, has been enjoying fatherhood to 11-month-old Kai, keeping him grounded during what could be viewed as a tumultuous time in his career.

“Basketball will take care of itself,” DiVincenzo told The Inquirer from the Timberwolves’ locker room before his team’s 126-112 victory over the Sixers. “I have a beautiful family at home. I have a beautiful baby boy, and that’s what my focus is on. Good game, bad game, you get to go home to him. It kind of puts everything in perspective, and you come in and work and you treat it a little bit more like a job.

“I think that’s what changes, once you have a kid. But it helps me. You don’t get tied up in what team you’re on or feelings of being traded or anything. You just focus on your work and focus on your family, and everything else takes care of itself.”

DiVincenzo has flashed several aspects of his skill set in the four games since his return from injury. He totaled eight assists against the Sixers, including nifty feeds to big men Julius Randle and Naz Reid for finishes at the rim. He also went 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, including three makes in the game-turning fourth quarter — one that prompted the public-address announcer to call him “Donte Three-Vincenzo.”

In Sunday’s victory at the Phoenix Suns, DiVincenzo scored 24 points and had five steals, rotating quickly to the ball as “a little bit of a gambler,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. The 6-foot-4 DiVincenzo also had seven rebounds in a Feb. 28 loss at the Utah Jazz, helping balance a 4-for-13 shooting night.

Other than a temporary minutes restriction, Finch said, “it doesn’t feel like [DiVincenzo has] been gone at all.”

“I haven’t seen any rust since he’s come back,” Finch said before Tuesday’s game. “He’s done a great job in his road to get back and stay ready and stay sharp.”

That is continued progress since DiVincenzo’s clunky start with Minnesota, which he acknowledged in a December story from The Athletic was partially rooted in hanging onto the past.

» READ MORE: Timberwolves’ hot fourth-quarter shooting hands the Sixers 13th loss in last 15 games

DiVincenzo, after all, had just come off averaging a career-best 15.5 points and shooting 40.1% from three-point range with the Knicks. Yet New York trading a cavalcade of draft picks for fellow former Villanova standout Mikal Bridges meant DiVincenzo likely would be moved to a lesser, off-the-bench role. Before all four former college teammates — which included All-Star Jalen Brunson and do-it-all wing Josh Hart — could even take the floor together, DiVincenzo had been traded to Minnesota.

Emotions bubbled to the surface when DiVincenzo jawed with Rick Brunson, Jalen’s father and a Knicks assistant coach, following an October preseason game. Then, DiVincenzo struggled to begin the season, shooting 35.3% from the floor and averaging 8.3 points in his first 25 games. That largely mirrored his new team’s disappointing follow-up to an exciting 2023-24, when Minnesota was the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed and advanced to the Western Conference finals by taking down the defending champion Denver Nuggets in seven games in the second round.

Yet Finch praised the way DiVincenzo cut down on unnecessary turnovers just before his injury, which the team described as turf toe and a partial ligament tear. His shooting numbers — and body language — had begun trending upward, outsiders observed. While rehabbing, DiVincenzo said he challenged himself — and everybody helping him — to “kind of push the needle a little bit” and beat the projected timeline.

“When your mindset’s on that, your body will follow,” DiVincenzo said. “The mind is a powerful thing.”

Now, DiVincenzo is settled in a key role on a Minnesota team aiming to separate itself in a crowded bottom of the Western Conference playoff picture, in which Nos. 6 through 10 entered Wednesday separated by two games. Both Timberwolves-Knicks regular-season games have passed, though DiVincenzo did not get to play in the mid-January matchup at the Garden. He gets to watch baby Kai start to walk and babble, because “every day, it’s something new.”

And since returning to the court — his latest step during an eventful 10 months — basketball is indeed taking care of itself.

“I knew that I was ready to come back,” DiVincenzo said. “Was it 100%? Probably not. Is it going to be 100%? Probably not. But it’s the job that we’re in and what we want to do. And [with] the goals we want to achieve, you don’t have time to [wait].”