The NBA trade deadline can be life-altering for a lot of players.
Just ask Donte DiVincenzo, who apparently was ready to move to Boston before finding out he was headed to the opposite coast.
The 25-year-old guard was part of a four-team trade at the 2022 deadline that sent him from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Sacramento Kings. In a recent interview with The Athletic's Anthony Slater, however, DiVincenzo admitted he was expecting a different outcome.
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"When I got traded, I was all over the place," DiVincenzo said. "Is this great? Is this bad? I thought I was going to Boston."
DiVincenzo said he was expecting to be traded to the Celtics in return for veteran guard Dennis Schroder, who like DiVincenzo was on an expiring contract.
"I think I was supposed to go for Dennis Schroder to Boston," DiVincenzo said. "I don’t know what happened. Somebody might’ve wanted too much. But that was my impression, that I was going to Boston. The Sacramento one came out of nowhere."
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The Celtics reportedly did offer to trade Schroder to Milwaukee in a one-for-one swap for DiVincenzo. According to that report, however, the Bucks countered by asking for Grant Williams in addition to Schroder, which caused Boston to "balk."
In retrospect, the Celtics were wise to stand pat. While DiVincenzo would have been a solid addition to their second unit, Williams emerged as a key rotation player for Boston and scored 27 points in Game 7 of the second round to help the Celtics eliminate the Bucks.
The C's also got decent value out of Schroder, sending him, Enes Freedom and Bruno Fernando to the Houston Rockets in return for Daniel Theis, who helped provide frontcourt depth when Robert Williams was sidelined due to injury.
DiVincenzo signed a two-year deal with the Golden State Warriors this offseason, so if we see a 2022 NBA Finals rematch this season, he'll be facing the team he thought he'd be on for the 2022 stretch run.