Inside Nova Knicks connection: How Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo went from Villanova to NBA teammates

The Villanova Basketball mantra is, “Once A Wildcat, Always A Wildcat.”

Three players have taken that literally as they joined forces to build one of the best teams in the NBA years after leaving school.

Former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo landed with the Knicks and led New York to the No. 2 seed in the East and its first 50-win season in over a decade this season. The trio is one series win away from returning the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.

This level of winning is nothing new to Brunson, Hart and DiVincenzo. Long before they were the heartbeat of an NBA title contender, they were national champions as teammates in college.

How did they get from Villanova to the Knicks? The Sporting News takes a closer look at their journey below.

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Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo’s journey as Villanova teammates

Brunson and DiVincenzo stepped foot on the Villanova campus as highly touted freshmen in 2015. They were college roommates trying to navigate the next step in life while figuring out how to earn minutes on a Wildcats team with national title aspirations.

Hart was trending toward becoming one of the best wings in the country as a junior. They had senior leaders in Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu. Kris Jenkins, Phil Booth and freshman Mikal Bridges filled out a deep roster.

Brunson made an instant impact, but DiVincenzo suffered an early-season foot injury that forced him to redshirt the rest of the year. The freshman tandem clicked instantly, but DiVincenzo and Hart didn’t see eye-to-eye.

“Josh will tell you, I hated him,” DiVincenzo told ESPN for a story on the Nova Knicks. “A bunch of guys did. Jalen and I were best friends, and Jalen had to say, ‘Come on, he’s fine.’ But yes, that was our common bond.”

Villanova went 35-5 during the 2015-16 regular season and earned a No. 2 seed in March Madness.

Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo

(SN/Getty)

The Wildcats ran through the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament with ease, then upset No. 1 Kansas in the Elite Eight. With No. 2 seed Oklahoma and Wooden Award winner Buddy Hield awaiting the Wildcats in the Final Four, DiVincenzo made his biggest impact of the season as a practice player.

DiVincenzo famously played the role of Hield for Villanova’s scout team, and he torched the Wildcats’ rotation players just days before the big game.

“He was roasting us,” Hart said. “The shots he was hitting were absurd. If Buddy was going to make those, it was a wrap for us.”

DiVincenzo’s Hield prep worked, as Villanova defeated Oklahoma by 44 points and held Hield to nine points on 4-of-12 shooting. It was the largest margin of victory in Final Four history.

“[DiVincenzo] did more damage in practice than Buddy Hield did in the game,” Hart said after the fact.

Villanova went on to win the national championship in 2016 and had hopes of repeating in 2017.

The next season, Hart developed into the Big East Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Wooden Award. Brunson stepped up as the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer and DiVincenzo played a key role off the bench, averaging 8.8 points in 25.5 minutes per game.

Hart and DiVincenzo still didn’t get along, though. Their relationship strained and reached a tipping point, but it didn’t prevent DiVincenzo from signing with the Knicks this past summer.

“Josh was just a bully. A playful bully,” he told ESPN.

The Wildcats came up short of a national championship in 2017, and Hart moved on to become a first-round pick in the NBA Draft.

Brunson and DiVincenzo got redemption in 2018, leading Villanova to a 36-4 record and a Big East regular season and tournament title. Brunson was the National Player of the Year and DiVincenzo was Big East Sixth Man of the Year.

The Wildcats ran through the NCAA Tournament once again, defeating all their opponents by double figures. DiVincenzo had his shining moment in the national championship game, exploding for 31 points to put himself on the NBA Draft radar. He wound up going No. 17 overall to the Bucks in 2018 while Brunson, somehow, fell to No. 33 overall to the Mavericks.

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OG Anunoby, Donte DiVincenzo, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart

(SN/Getty)

Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo’s journey to the Knicks

Jalen Brunson

Brunson spent the first four years of his NBA career as Luka Doncic’s running mate in Dallas. Brunson had a breakout postseason in 2021-22 when Doncic had to miss a few games due to injury, averaging 21.6 points for the playoffs.

Brunson elected to test the market during 2022 free agency, where he landed a four-year, $104 million contract with the Knicks. The deal was criticized by many but has turned out to be one of the best-value contracts in the NBA.

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Josh Hart

Hart began his career with the Lakers in 2017-18. He played in Los Angeles for two seasons before being one of the key players moved in the blockbuster trade to acquire Anthony Davis from the Pelicans during the 2019 offseason.

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Hart spent two and a half seasons in New Orleans, then was traded to the Trail Blazers in the deal that sent CJ McCollum to the Pelicans at the 2022 trade deadline.

Hart spent the remainder of the 2021-22 season in Portland and began the 2022-23 season as a Trail Blazer. In a move that was welcomed by both of the former Villanova teammates, Hart was traded to the Knicks at the 2023 trade deadline to join forces with Brunson.

Donte DiVincenzo

DiVincenzo spent the first three years of his career with the Bucks. He started in all 66 games during their 2021 NBA championship season but was sidelined for all but three games of the playoff run DiVincenzo

The following season, Milwaukee sent DiVincenzo to the Kings in a four-team trade to acquire Serge Ibaka. He finished the season in Sacramento, then signed a one-year deal with the Warriors in 2022 free agency.

This past offseason, DiVincenzo inked a four-year, $46.9 million deal with New York to form the Nova Knicks.