This summer, the Warriors were unable to keep Gary Payton II at a reasonable price, and could only tearfully send away the defensive champion.
This highlights their financial limits, and after several years of large-scale contract renewals, there is less and less room for reinforcement. Between Gary Payton II and the $60 million luxury tax, Joe Lacob ultimately chose the more rational side, but that doesn't mean the team chose to give up everything.
Hours after Gary Payton II traveled to the Trail Blazers, Bob Myers once again cast a spell to bring back young winger Donte Di Vincenzo, 25, at a lower price than market expectations, to mitigate some of the damage caused by Gary Payton II's departure.
Considering that Moses Moody will gradually eat more time, Donte DiVincenzo is very useful as an option for the transition period, and it is expected that he can have a different spark with the Warriors.
Donte DiVincenzo had a chance to get a 6.4M mid-class contract, but he chose to "cut the price" and sign a two-year contract with the defending Warriors. The new contract has a total value of 9.3M, with player options in the second year, providing reasonable flexibility for both sides.
Both Donte Di Vincenzo and the Warriors see the partnership as a necessary "bet." The former hopes to fight for a bigger contract through this short-term part-time job, and Otto Porter Jr. is a good precedent; The latter is looking forward to seeing Donte Di Vincenzo before the injury, using a stable team environment to help him get back to form and play his original function.
Although the visions on both sides are a little risky, the price paid is not high, and all that remains is to "do your best to obey the destiny" and hope that this cooperation is competent and pleasant.
Dont Di Vincenzo is one of Villanova University's championship team, starting his basketball career in the NBA with Mikael Bridges, Jaylen Brunson and Omari Spelman in 2018.
Compared to Mikal Bridges and Jaylen Brunson, who won a big contract, Donte Di Vincenzo's biggest achievement so far is the championship ring he won with the Bucks. Unfortunately, Donte Di Vincenzo did not perform much in the playoffs of that year due to a leg ligament injury, making it easy for fans to forget his steady play in the regular season, and then entered the recovery period.
After his comeback last season, Donte Di Vincenzo struggled to regain his pre-injury skills, playing only 17 games for the Bucks, before being traded to the Kings to start a new life in the West, which was the beginning of another disaster.
Even though Donte Di Vincenzo is much healthier in the Kings, averaging 26.6 minutes per game, in fact the second-highest in his career. But he started only once in 25 games (seven to qualify), leaving him unable to secure a 7.9M qualification offer (QO, Qualifying Offer) in the summer, creating an important contradiction with the team.
Dont Di Vincenzo seems less satisfied with justin Holliday and Trey Lyles' starters, and believes the King let him go from the bench, just for financial reasons, so that his QO price was slightly reduced to 6.6M. The deteriorating relationship makes the hope of the two sides for future cooperation even more slim.
In the end, the Kings did not offer a 6.6M qualification offer, but signed Malik Munch on the first day of the "opening" and traded Kevin Hurth from the Eagles to strengthen the depth and vitality of the backcourt, officially announcing a parting with Donte DiVinchenzo.
Malik Munch faced a similar situation last year. Leaving the Hornets, he finally chose to cut his salary to join the Lakers, scoring, playing time, shooting rate... A number of other data have set a new career high, so that the old and sick Purple gold legion once saw a turnaround, becoming a classic representative of recent years who was lucky to seize the opportunity.
In Dont DiVincenzo, the Warriors saw what they wanted— range, arm span, dynamism, and the experience of winning with championship teams, and what the 25-year-old needed was a trust that Golden State was the most important specialty.
In this way, Donte DiVinchenzo hit it off with the Golden State Warriors and set sail for the new season.
When it comes to the NBA teams where players are "regenerated", the Heat and warriors are among the leaders, and the Warriors are better at regaining confidence in free agents who have been rolling in the league for several years but have not improved, as long as you meet the needs and understand the Warriors' offensive and defensive operations.
Of course, if you have some trouble, the team will also find a way to help you find the right position for you, even if it is unique and rare, let alone impossible, Gary Payton II's small ball play is an example.
Maris Speights (2013-16), Javier McGee (2016-18) and Quinn Cook (2017-19) have all become title puzzles, the transitional Alfonso McKinney (2018-19) and Glenn Robinson III (2019-20) have also been given the opportunity to continue their careers, and Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II have become new fans, finding another spring at the age of 29.
The comeback of Andrew Wiggins, the abandoned "former Champion", is also an inspiring story. And the link between all this is the Golden State Warriors, proving that they not only have a reliable scouting department, a winning culture, but also a sloppy development of players.
Role players who come to the Warriors, assuming a certain ball quotient and even unusual "intuition" about the game, tend to play well next to Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. For now, Donte Di Vincenzo has such potential that he has been hailed by the Bleacher Report as "a big thief on the free market", giving it an "A-" rating.
Donte DiVincenzo's career does not seem to have been "at ease", always revolving around the storm of trading. Less than two years ago, he almost let Bogdan Bogdanovic successfully descend on the Bucks, but due to various factors, the "first sign and then change" package finally failed, interestingly, after countless months, he still could not escape the fate of being traded to the king, and he could not get together.
After nearly 13 months of painstaking rehabilitation and contending with a chaotic new team, Donte Di Vincenzo was able to temporarily escape his bad luck. Now he has to focus on the pitch and prove himself again.
Although Donte DiVincenzo can't compete with Gary Payton II's athleticism and perimeter defense (it should be said that few people can), his body shape, no-ball running, almost tailor-made for the Warriors, as long as he can familiar with the interpretation on the court, he should quickly integrate into the team.
Whether in the Bucks or the Kings, Donte DiVincenzo has worked with excellent big star teammates such as Alphabet Brother and Domantas Sabonis, and is familiar with how to use on-court space, wait for opportunities, and make up knives against opponents.
After coming to the Warriors, the scoring focus is biased towards Curry, Klay Thompson and Wiggins on the periphery, but this should not have much impact on Donte Di Vincenzo, because the attention of the defense will still be sucked away by the above few, and he will do his own thing.
It may be too much to ask Donte Di Vincenzo to be the playmaker, the receiver scorer after the breakout. But with Jordan Poole on the bench in possession, James Wiseman could also bring a different offensive change to the Warriors, and Donte Di Vincenzo's task will be relatively simple, and serving as the seventh and eighth men in the rotation will not be a problem.
Comparison with Gary Payton II is naturally indispensable, but we must realize that Donte Divinchenzo and Gary Payton II are different types of players, and appreciating the current Donte Di Vincenzo is a more rational choice, after all, the Blazers offered a 28M three-year contract, the Warriors really can't keep up.
Gary Payton II is unique, combining strength, defense, and versatility on the offensive end, and it makes sense. A good battle has been fought, and I wish him a good future.
When boss Joe Lacob exceeded his financial limits, Bob Myers, as always, moved out of his magic to maximize the options available, and this time brought back a surprise pack called Donte Di Vincenzo.
A few years ago, everyone was not optimistic about Durant and D'Angelo Russell's "first sign and then change", but this key operation finally brought back Wiggins for them and let the Warriors find a new solution for the championship small forward.
Last summer, the addition of Otto Porter Jr., Gary Payton II, Nemanja Bjelica and others did not cause too many waves, but they all became the soul of the finals, offering the sweetest blessings to the team.
How effective can Donte DiVinchenzo's "short-term part-time work" be? The following season deserves our patience to watch. In any case, the Warriors have no losses in this signing, not necessarily steady, but certainly not losses.