Milwaukee Bucks: DiVincenzo’s Play Easing Pain of Trade Flub

The Milwaukee Bucks missed out on a big trade for Bogdan Bogdanovic this offseason due to tampering issues, but Donte DiVincenzo’s hot start has made it much easier to live with.

On the night of November 16th, 2020, after the Milwaukee Bucks had already pulled off one blockbuster trade for Jrue Holiday, it appeared that Donte DiVincenzo would be leaving in a deal that would bring Bogdan Bogdanovic to Milwaukee. This fell apart in the days that followed, ending in Bogdan, eventually signing with the Atlanta Hawks and DiVincenzo, along with D.J. Wilson and Ersan Ilyasova, staying in Milwaukee for the time being. Ilyasova was waived soon after, and Wilson was never an important piece, but keeping a young budding player in DiVincenzo was the silver lining.

So far, keeping DiVincenzo has looked like not just a silver lining for the Bucks but rather a blessing in disguise. Through ten games and nine for Bogdanovic, DiVincenzo has outplayed him in almost every area. Of course, if they were in different situations, then things would look different, but DiVincenzo has made the leap to starting status in his third year and handling it very well.

The biggest jump in Donte’s play, which everyone knew would be crucial for him to thrive in Milwaukee, has been his three-point shooting. He improved from 26.5 percent in his rookie year to 33.6 in year two, but that is still below league average, and on a team that needs floor spacers around Giannis Antetokounmpo. So far, he’s shooting a white-hot 47.1 percent from long range on a career-high 5.1 attempts per game. Meanwhile, Bogdanovic is shooting at a 36.2 percent clip from downtown, which is around league average.

Donte has had his struggles this season from inside the arc, where he’s shooting a career-low 43.6 percent, but Bogdan hasn’t been much better at 45 percent. This all adds up to DiVincenzo having a fantastic 58.9 effective field goal percentage, well above Bogdanovic’s 51.9. Donte is also outscoring him 11.2 to 9.9 points per game while playing only about a minute more per game.

Of course, there’s still another whole side of the court to be discussed. That’s where DiVincenzo really pulls away even further as a player. DiVincenzo is by no means a lockdown on-ball defender, but he’s of the best in the league at getting his hand into strip the ball when he’s playing help defense on a drive or getting in a passing lane for a steal.

Donte DiVincenzo and Jrue Holiday have created the most disruptive backcourt in the NBA this season. They are 12th and 3rd, respectively, in steals per game and per 48 minutes Donte is third, and Jrue is second in the league. Jrue always guards the best offensive player, leaving DiVincenzo with an easier assignment, but he’s taken full advantage of that and has improved even more on his defensive skills this season. Bogdanovic is not at all known for his defense, averaging just 0.4 steals per game and 0.1 blocks.

Finally, the part of DiVincenzo’s game that has never waivered as long as he’s been on the Milwaukee Bucks, his hustle. This starts with offensive rebounding, which is a hustle stat, as well as basketball IQ, positioning, and jumping ability. He has all of those, which has netted him 1.3 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes this year. Bogdanovic, despite being two inches taller, has just 0.3 offensive boards in the same timeframe.

The other hustle stat that DiVincenzo has excelled in is recovering loose balls. He is currently tied for fifth in the league in that category with 14, and just four off the league leader Trae Young. Between his steals, offensive rebounds, and loose ball recoveries, he gets the Milwaukee Bucks multiple extra possessions each game that are extremely valuable, especially when the playoffs roll around and those extra chances could be the difference in a close game.

So DiVincenzo is shooting better, playing better defense, and outhustling Bogdanovic, but is he really outplaying him enough that we can feel ok about this trade falling through? Well, so far, the answer is yes. Donte’s Player Efficiency Rating (PER), which is a stat that attempts to quantify a player’s contributions in one number, is 16.2, while Bogdan’s is just 10.1. Most ratings fall between 5 and 25, so a six-point gap is definitely significant, even with a small sample size.

Bogdanovic’s recent knee injury will make it hard to continue to compare the two over the course of the season, but as far as the early season goes, the Milwaukee Bucks seemed to have come out alright in this deal, other than losing a second-round pick.

DiVincenzo is pretty much the only young valuable player that the Bucks have, so keeping some youth was a welcome sight for the future of the team. He has one more season in Milwaukee after this one, and hopefully, he’ll get an extension of his own to stay and try to win multiple championships with Antetokounmpo and Middleton. He won’t have to keep shooting over 45 percent from deep to contribute, but if he can keep scoring and continue being a consistent shooter, he’ll be an integral part of this team’s playoff success for years to come, and him blossoming into that player this season should make losing Bogdan a lot easier on all of us.