Warriors’ Draymond Green thought Donte DiVincenzo was a “great pickup”
So far during the NBA’s free agency, the Golden State Warriors have been widely considered losers.
It was always going to be difficult to retain their key rotational players. However, with Kevon Looney, Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr. all up for new deals, it was expected at least two would stay in the Bay Area.
The Golden State Warriors’ four-time All-Star forward gave high praise to the team for bringing in a former champion in Donte DiVincenzo.
Sadly, that wasn’t the case as Looney was given a three-year deal and both Payton II and Porter Jr. found themselves headed elsewhere, the former to Portland and latter to Toronto. Also, an underrated departure is that of 6-foot-10 sharpshooting big man Nemanja Bjelica.
The Warriors will still be looking in the market for a stretch-four talent, or at least they should be. As for replacing Payton II, they attempted to do that by signing former Milwaukee Bucks first-round pick Donte DiVincenzo.
DiVincenzo helped Milwaukee win a championship last season as well. He was the 17th overall pick of the 2018 NBA Draft. The former Villanova standout is is still just 25. The two-year signing has the Draymond Green stamp of approval.
“Warriors also signed Donte, which I thought was a great pickup,” Green said on The Draymond Green Show via Tristi Rodriguez of NBC Sports. Green went on to say that he was “absolutely happy” with the signing.
DiVincenzo started his career as a reserve and by his third season in the league was a full-time starter for Milwaukee, averaging 10.4 points per game. While not at Payton II’s level, he is a solid defender.
He is a better shooter than Payton II which should unlock another level to the Warriors’ offense. He is a 35% career three-point shooter and has averaged over 1.8 per game over his last two seasons. He averages 2.3 triples per 36 minutes on his career.
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DiVincenzo should be able to replace part of what Payton II provided, and it’s a positive to have those largely involved players also in approval over the signing.