Donte DiVincenzo on trade to Minnesota: 'You don't expect it at that time'

Donte DiVincenzo: ‘You don't expect it at that time. Obviously everything's kind of like around free agency or around the deadline so you're just getting ready for the season and like you said, family set on in, everybody's kind of planning what trips they're going on and when your family coming to games and then boom, it happens. I think the toughest thing for us was I when I came out here, when the trade was official, we left like the day after or something to go to Palm Springs. So like I had my family come out here and I was like ‘hey um I'm leaving tomorrow’. So like wait you're dropping us in Minnesota like unfamiliar with everything and then you're just bouncing for a week? So that's the hardest thing that people don't understand about the NBA.’

Source: YouTube

More on this storyline

DiVincenzo was candid about the situation, citing his experience with large changes in his career and crediting Anthony Edwards for making him feel welcome before he even arrived. “You think about all the trade situations, I’ve been traded before so like I couldn’t ask for a better trade situation to go to. You’re going to a team that’s a contender, you’re going to a team that you were looking at in free agency, and you’re going to a team that has a stud that’s young,” said DiVincenzo. “Just going bonkers and like the energy that [Anthony Edwards] gives to the organization, you see it from the outside, but when you’re here, [Edwards] makes coming to work everyday just so enjoyable and that’s something that’s very, very, very fun.” -via Clutch Points / November 13, 2024

I've heard more than one rival team since the trade, mind you, wonder aloud about whether having a player of Karl-Anthony Towns' caliber on the roster for a potential future Giannis Antetokounmpo offer was among the Knicks' motivations for giving in on their long-held reluctance to include Donte DiVincenzo in trade talks with the Timberwolves and push for that deal's completion when they did on top of New York's obvious need for a frontline center. -via marcstein.substack.com / November 3, 2024

Julius Randle himself was “a little shocked of the timing” of being traded from the Knicks to the Timberwolves for four-time All-Star forward Karl Anthony-Towns and guard Donte DiVincenzo on Oct. 3. It wasn’t that Randle was unaware of trade rumors, but it’s rare that a trade is made so close to training camp. While the Timberwolves have made a lot of changes over the past year, Randle told Andscape that he believed he would have fit in well this season. -via Andscape / October 29, 2024

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Donte DiVincenzo on trade to Minnesota: 'You don't expect it at that time'