Donte DiVincenzo Looks For Knicks History 'The Right Way'

Donte DiVincenzo is inching closer toward New York Knicks history but don't expect a personal countdown.

Donte DiVincenzo is leaving a countdown for ball-dropping to the experts in Times Square.

DiVincenzo is closing in on New York Knicks history, as the first-year Manhattanite is only 19 triples away from breaking Evan Fournier single-season franchise landmark for most three-pointers. Fournier, ironically, arrives for a visit on Monday night when the Knicks face the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).

But as DiVincenzo inches closer to Fournier's 241 earned in 2021-22, don't expect him to while away the final hours to the top or hasten history with excess attempts.

“I don’t think about it. Obviously, I’m aware of it, but I don’t go into the game going, ‘How many do I need?’ ” DiVincenzo said, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “That’s for you guys to talk about, that’s for everybody else to have fun with. But when you start doing that, there’s basketball karma, basketball gods. That’s not something (I want to mess with).

“There’s energy to basketball. So just play the right way and good things will come.”

Aaron Gordon, Donte DiVincenzo

Matthew Stockman/GettyImages

The signer of a four-year, $50 million contract that looks like more of a bargain with each passing game, DiVincenzo has been one of the Knicks' most consistent faces over the course of a thrilling rollercoaster of a season: he usurped Quentin Grimes as the Knicks' primary shooting guard early in the year and has remained stationed there ever since, missing only one game so far this season.

Though Fournier's Knicks tenure met an unceremonious ending (as he was exiled from head coach Tom Thibodeau's rotation the year after), DiVincenzo joins some illustrious names in Knicks history, as he passed both John Starks (217, 1994-95) and teammate Julius Randle (218, 2022-23) for third and second respectively during Thursday's loss in Denver. Four more awaited on Saturday, which saw DiVincenzo score a game-best 31 as the Knicks bashed the Brooklyn Nets by a 105-93 final.

Partly aided by a year under Stephen Curry's tutelage in Golden State, DiVincenzo's outside prowess has set the tone for a career-best season, as he's currently averaging 14.5 points a game. Thibodeau, however, is pleased with the way DiVincenzo has helped the Knicks' offensive stability as a whole, particularly in a season where a main attraction, Julius Randle, has had to miss extended time.

“Overall, everything, (such as) the hustle, the shooting," Thibodeau said of where DiVincenzo adds to the Knicks' offensive repertoire, per Steve Popper of Newsday. "He came into the season shooting really well. He got off to a great start and I thought that was a byproduct of the work he put in during the summer. He hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped."