Jay Wright Steps Up For Donte DiVincenzo: Mentoring Never Ends

The bond between coach and player can last for a lifetime, and former Villanova head coach Jay Wright exemplified that fact in the moments after the New York Knicks won the 2026 NBA Championship.

With Wildcats products Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges all winning together with the Knicks, Wright’s thoughts went to their Villanova teammate Donte DiVincenzo, who New York traded away as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns trade central to their championship roster construction.

“I texted him immediately after the game that ‘you set the foundation — as Thibs [former Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau] did too — for what this team is today,’” Wright said in an interview with Nick Kostos of Westwood One.

“Donte was the beginning of [Knicks president] Leon Rose’s brilliance to not just bring in Villanova guys, but bring in guys that fit as a team and that played for each other and didn’t care about individual accolades.”

Beyond missing out on another championship with his Villanova teammates, DiVincenzo is also dealing with the challenge of rehabbing from an Achilles’ tendon tear, suffering the injury in the first round of the NBA playoffs. As such, Wright made sure to have his former player’s back… and to highlight an important bullet point on DiVincenzo’s résumé. DiVincenzo already has an NBA championship of his own, won in 2021.

“The good thing is he does have a ring. He’s got a ring from Milwaukee,” Wright said. “We do love him like a brother and we all feel for him.”