Donte DiVincenzo has already been back once to the Garden, jawing with the Knicks’ bench and needing to be separated from assistant coach Rick Brunson at the conclusion of a preseason game in October.
But DiVincenzo and teammate Julius Randle will face the Knicks in a game that counts for the first time Thursday night in Minnesota since they were dealt away in the blockbuster trade for Karl-Anthony Towns just before the start of training camp.
“I’m still in contact with those guys all the time. It’s still family,“ DiVincenzo said Wednesday after the Timberwolves practiced in Minnesota. “I watch games and everything, but it’s different, a different viewpoint if you will — more so just a fan of the guys that are over there.
“Wish them nothing but success, individually and collectively.”
While Randle is averaging 20.1 points in his return from season-ending shoulder surgery, DiVincenzo has struggled to find his footing with the Timberwolves.
He is posting just 8.3 points and shooting 31.9 percent from 3-point range after connecting at a 40.1 clip in his lone season with the Knicks.
“I think, a) it’s not normal to make a trade the day before media day. Both sides, it takes time to adjust,” DiVincenzo said. “Great things take time. On our side, I believe that but also on their side. I think KAT’s playing really well, but it’s going to take time to mesh, for other guys to adjust to what he does.”
Josh Hart similarly said last week — and he and Jalen Brunson reiterated Wednesday — that DiVincenzo and Randle were a huge part of the Knicks’ identity last season.
They acknowledged that the current squad is still trying to establish its identity despite a 16-10 start and Towns averaging around 25 points and 14 rebounds per game.
“Like I said, it’s an adjustment,” DiVincenzo said. “KAT was here for, what was it, nine years? The guy was here for nine years. Same thing.
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“When he leaves here there’s a hole, there’s a void of what he brought. In the same way, even though I was there for a year, even though Julius missed half the year; he was there for five years. There’s something when a guy spends that much time in an organization, they’re around people, you just get accustomed to what you’re going to get every single day. So coming here, just try to be yourself.”
As for his dust-up with the elder Brunson and the Knicks’ bench in the preseason, DiVincenzo said the incident is behind them.
“Family talks, family moves forward. That’s it,” said DiVincenzo, who was a teammate of Jalen Brunson’s, Hart’s and first-year Knick Mikal Bridges’ at Villanova. “I wish them — obviously that situation, but every single person over there — I wish nonstop individual success, collective success.
“I want the same for everybody over here. That’s all it is. Families talk and families move forward.”
Randle was not as expansive with his answers about facing the Knicks, calling it “another game” and saying he’s just going to “play basketball.”
“I’m going to go home, play with my kids, going to eat some food… And I’m going to sleep,” Randle said. “I’m going to wake up in the morning, go to shootaround, probably get a little treatment. And then I’m going to shoot.
“And then I’m going to go home and have some breakfast and then I’m going to go to the arena and play the game.”
Asked about Hart’s comments about the Knicks still trying to find their identity without him and DiVincenzo, the three-time All-Star replied, “Oh you got to ask Josh about that. I don’t play there anymore.”
—Additional reporting by Stefan Bondy
