Ex-Knicks playoff hero benched in Game 2 by Wolves; What's wrong?

Former New York Knicks players Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo aren’t performing for the Minnesota Timberwolves right now.

Both players have been valuable in stretches for the Wolves this season, leading to a consensus opinion around the NBA that Minnesota and the Knicks both won last offseason’s trade sending Randle and DiVincenzo to the Wolves while shipping Karl-Anthony Towns off to New York.

Assuredly, Randle and DiVincenzo have been positive assets for Minnesota in 2024-25, but Wolves head coach Chris Finch isn’t thinking about that at the moment.

With Finch’s club down 0-2 in the Western Conference Finals, there are signs that he’s lost faith in both Randle and DiVincenzo, and in Finch’s defense, the numbers reveal that DiVincenzo, in particular, has been a liability versus the Oklahoma City Thunder through two games.

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Kevin O’Connor and Tom Haberstroh talked about this on Friday during a new episode of The Kevin O’Connor Show.

“It’s not a good sign … when the two guys you got back in that trade are benched in the fourth quarter of Game 2,” Haberstroh noted, referring to Randle and DiVincenzo.”

“It was a horrible game for those two guys.”

“Donte DiVincenzo (is) minus-47 in this series when he's on the floor. The Minnesota Timberwolves have been outscored by 47 points when Donte DiVincenzo is on the floor.”

“Chris Finch lost all faith in those guys in Game 2, and I can understand why.”

O’Connor also chimed in about DiVincenzo’s struggles.

“What happened to the dude with these banger performances last year for the Knicks in the postseason?”

DiVincenzo was minus-27 in Game 2. He scored 8 points on 2-for-6 from downtown and added three assists and three rebounds but also committed four turnovers in 22 minutes of action.

The former Villanova Wildcat is averaging 8.1 points, 3.3 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game in the playoffs on 25.7 percent shooting from three (25.8 minutes per game).

During the regular season for the Wolves, DiVincenzo averaged 11.7 points, 3.6 assists, and 3.7 rebounds per game on 39.7 percent shooting from three (25.9 minutes per game).

Donte’s minutes have remained constant, but his production is down.

The Wolves need that to change if they want to challenge OKC.

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