Knicks are talented but lost their moxie with big trade
Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo slap five in the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Knicks and the Washington Wizards at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Emotions always run high when two teams meet for the first time after making a blockbuster deal.
Anyone who doubts that can rewind back to the Knicks’ preseason game against the Minnesota Timberwolves when former Knick Donte DiVincenzo had to be separated from Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson after a verbal dust-up at the end of the game.
Given that it was just an exhibition game, it wouldn’t be surprising if there were a few more fireworks Thursday night when the Knicks tip off against the Timberwolves at the Target Center.
The timing of the trade — the Knicks sent Julius Randle and DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns just three days before training camp opened — and the fact that it involved players who were very integral to the identity of playoff caliber teams, makes this a unique situation. Don’t be surprised if everyone involved in the deal is looking to prove that their former team made a mistake letting them go.
“Whenever you get traded, it’s always tough, it’s always emotional,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said. “You always have that sense of not being wanted. That’s on both sides . . . Every time a trade happens, you feel, even if you’re the big piece of the trade and another team wants you, you still feel a little chip on your shoulder and you still feel unwanted.”
Twenty-six games into the season, it’s hard not to declare the Knicks the winner of the trade on the basis of pure talent acquisition.
Towns, who played nine seasons in Minnesota, is looking like a legitimate MVP candidate as a Knick. With an average of 24.8 points, 13.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.0 blocks, Towns is currently ranked fifth on the MVP ladder.
Randle, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury last January, has played well enough for the Timberwolves, but DiVincenzo has struggled since the move. After averaging 17.8 points for the Knicks in the playoffs last season, DiVincenzo is averaging just 8.3 points while shooting 35.1% from the field and 31.9% from three.
What the Knicks (16-10) gained in pure offense by adding both Towns and the Nets’ Mikal Bridges, they may have lost in moxie and defensive swagger. It was players like DiVincenzo, Randle and Isaiah Hartenstein — who signed with Oklahoma City as a free agent — who helped give the Knicks their don’t-mess-with-us, run-through-the-wall identity.
Hart and Jalen Brunson said the Knicks are still working on formulating their new identity with so many different players from the team that came one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last season.
“There is a difference. We have totally new personnel and so, not just Donte and Julius but the number of players returning from last Christmas were like three,” Brunson said. “... We’re still a work in progress and there’s still a long way to go.”
Hart said the team definitely misses the mentality of both Randle and DiVincenzo.
“Obviously, the mold of the team is totally different. Those two guys brought extreme toughness, extreme competitiveness,” Hart said. “That’s something that made the team special, the last several years that those guys were here. This year obviously is different.
“I think we’re still trying to figure it out. I think we see bits and pieces of where it is. I think we’re all still trying to figure out what that mold is. But those two guys and [Hartenstein] obviously were a big part of this team in terms of competitiveness, toughness and attention to detail, those kinds of things.”
The Knicks could have used a little bit of toughness in their recent loss to Atlanta in the NBA Cup quarterfinals. It’s hard to imagine that a guy like DiVincenzo — a guy who was willing to get into it with a Knicks assistant coach after an exhibition game — would have allowed Trae Young to celebrate on the Knicks home court like he did after that win.
Both Hart and Brunson played with DiVincenzo at Villanova. All three remain close and realize what he brings to a team.
“I call him like a little hothead, and he’s always been that way,” Brunson said. “But I mean, that’s my brother and regardless of what happens, that’s family.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.