Nearly 15 months ago, Donte DiVincenzo thought he was on his way from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Kings as part of a sign-and-trade deal centered around former Sacramento guard Bogdan Bogdanovic.
That trade fell apart for a number of reasons, meaning DiVincenzo stayed with the Bucks while Bogdanovic eventually signed with the Atlanta Hawks.
Fast forward a season and a half, the Kings finally landed DiVincenzo in a four-team trade with the Bucks, LA Clippers and Detroit Pistons that also saw former No. 2 overall draft pick Marvin Bagley III head to Motown.
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At long last, DiVincenzo made his Kings debut Saturday in their 123-110 win over the Washington Wizards.
"Those 48 hours were super weird for me," DiVincenzo told reporters after the game. "Thought I was coming here and then I didn't. It took a little time get back adjusted where I was at. But at the end of the day, it's a business and you got to go about your work. So then coming along to this trade deadline, when I got the news I was coming here, I was super happy.
"Like I said, it was meant to be. That mutual respect and wanting to be here and them wanting me here, it's a super good feeling and makes you want to go out and play as hard as you can for not only the team but also the organization."
In just over 19 minutes of action off the bench against the Wizards, the 25-year-old wing finished with seven points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field and 1-of-7 from behind the 3-point line. He dished out five assists, grabbed two rebounds, had one steal and was a plus-six.
"I literally did not know anything we were running on offense, so it was more of instinctual pick-up ball, just kind of feeling it out," DiVincenzo said. "But when you're playing with a bunch of guys that have high IQs, it's fun basketball, everybody is touching it and you're getting second-side and third-side action.
"One, it's fun basketball and two, it's contagious and I think we're going to be really good if we can get stops on the defensive end and run. And then when we have to slow down in the halfcourt, like I said, we have high IQs on this team, so we'll execute going forward."
While his shot wasn't there for him Saturday, DiVincenzo is relentless on defense and he knows that is a trait that will greatly benefit the Kings.
"Night in and night out, I'm going to compete on the defensive end. I can guard multiple positions," DiVincenzo said. "But yeah, night in, night out, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to scrap, I'm going to claw and I'm trying to get wins here. That's my only focus."
NBA
DiVincenzo was selected by the Bucks with the No. 17 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and helped them rise to NBA champions last season. He knows what it takes to win a title and the Kings are hoping that rubs off on them as they make a push towards the playoffs.
"We know what he can do, but just him coming in and being a guy who has been on a championship team, he's brought that level of intensity, that level of communication," Kings guard De'Aaron Fox said after the game. "From one of the bad teams to the best teams in the league, there's a huge drop off in communication and things like that. He obviously didn't make shots. I don't think he played the way he wants to play today, but he's brought that and he's added that to our team. It was great for us tonight, but there's still a lot more for us to do and he knows he's going to play better."
In addition to DiVincenzo, the Kings added Trey Lyles, Josh Jackson, Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday and Jeremy Lamb ahead of the trade deadline on Thursday, while sending out Bagley, Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson.
Integrating six new players into the rotation isn't an easy task, but the Kings beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in their first game with Sabonis on Wednesday and they knocked off the Wizards with DiVincenzo as part of the rotation Saturday.
"I've never been in a situation where, at the trade deadline, you added half your team," Kings interim coach Alvin Gentry said. "We added six guys to our team. And usually that takes a long time for it to gel and come together. But I think what [general manager] Monte [McNair] and what [assistant GM] Wes [Wilcox] did is they went out and got guys that they felt were going to fit into what we were doing already and guys that could adjust to it quickly.
"So it hasn't been nearly as hard for those guys to adjust. We have high IQ guys. It's easy for us to talk about what we want to do and them then be able to understand what we're trying to ask them to do. So in that respect, it's been a little bit of an easy transition."
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Parting with Haliburton wasn't easy and didn't go over well with the fan base. But so far, so good for the Kings and they are hoping DiVincenzo is part the solution in Sacramento.