Donte DiVincenzo on Pacers: They’re trying to be tough guys, and that’s not their identity

Dustin Dopirak: Rick Carlisle: “Donte DiVincenzo is a great player. And in the first three games, we didn’t treat him like he was. We didn’t treat him with that level of urgency.” Said they did this time. -via Twitter @DustinDopirak / May 12, 2024

RJ Hampton: Donte been like that , I remember talking to him one time checking into a game when he was with Sac , you could just tell he wasn’t there … fit & opportunity does wonders , it ain’t rocket science ! -via Twitter @RjHampton14 / May 11, 2024

This past June, Hart opted into the final year of his original Pelicans extension, a player-option at almost $13 million. That allowed New York the financial flexibility to sign another former Villanova teammate, Donte DiVincenzo, to a four-year, $47 million deal. DiVincenzo, too, has become another playoff hero this spring after hitting clutch shots against both the Sixers and Pacers. Had Hart declined the option and entered free agency outright, it could have ended differently, according to Marks’s cap analysis. “If he would have become a free agent and signed that where the extension is right now at that $18.1 million next year, I don’t know if New York would have been able to sign Donte,” Marks said. “As far as where they are, where they were with the hard cap and everything. So it was kind of, ‘Hey, you opt in to this, we’ll take care of you next year.’ You basically have to kind of sit in a little bit of a holding pattern here.” -via Front Office Sports / May 9, 2024