Why Knicks Star Won't Play in Olympics?
New York Knicks star Donte DiVincenzo is saying arrivederci to his Olympic dreams for the time being.
DiVincenzo will not be partaking in the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris despite previously expressing ringed desires. Fresh off his first New York season, DiVincenzo looked into playing in Italy's potential run at Olympic gold but he told Stefan Bondy of the New York Post that it was an impossibility "timing-wise."
Even if DiVincenzo, repping the Knicks at a Revo Sunglasses event in Soho, won't be on the team this time around, he told Bondy that playing for Gli Azzurri remains "a dream of (his)."
Italy is currently trying to become one of the final teams invited to the Paris Games, as its partaking in a qualifying tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Gli Azzurri made won its first game on Tuesday, a 114-53 shellacking of Bahrain that saw former Knick Danilo Gallinari score 14 points on 5-of-6 from the field. The Italians, who placed fifth in the 2020/2021 Games in Tokyo, face host Puerto Rico on Thursday.
It's easy to see why DiVincenzo would have scheduling conflicts: not only did the Knicks put a lengthy playoff run, coming one game short of the Eastern Conference Finals after winning 50 games and the second seed on the bracket, but he and his girlfriend Morgan Calantoni recently welcomed their first child, who arrived shortly after the Knicks wrapped up their most successful regular season in over a decade. DiVincenzo told Bondy he was "'enjoying the time off' as a recent first-time father."
All that and more served a sweet end to DiVincenzo's first tour of New York, which saw him average a career-best 15.5 points per game, most of that earned via a Knicks single-season record 283 three-pointers.
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks