What to expect upon Donte DiVincenzo’s return to Milwaukee Bucks lineup

The Milwaukee Bucks finally got good news yesterday with the report that Donte DiVincenzo will be making his season debut this Wednesday against the Indiana Pacers at Fiserv Forum.

As a whole, it’s great that DiVincenzo is returning to the lineup ahead of schedule and that he’s recovered well from his injury. He was a valuable member of the starting five and it seems some fans have taken him for granted during his absence throughout the playoffs and start of the regular season.

It’s been over six months since DiVincenzo last played a professional basketball game so there should be some tempered expectations upon his immediate return to the lineup, but in the long run, this is a very welcomed addition for the defending champs.

Short and long-term expectations for Donte DiVincenzo’s return to the Milwaukee Bucks lineup

In the immediate, DiVincenzo will likely be on a tight minutes restriction when he initially returns so as to ease him into the swing of things. There haven’t been too many big injuries during head coach Mike Budenholzer’s tenure, so there isn’t much precedent to go off of, but what we saw with Jrue Holiday in his return from COVID-19 last season is a decent starting point.

He didn’t start in his first three games back in the lineup and averaged just under 20 minutes per game. There’s no way we see DiVincenzo average 20 minutes per game in his first three contests back from such a severe layoff, but that’s sort of what we’re working with here.

Then again, I expected Khris Middleton to have a bit of a minutes restriction when he returned from COVID and he instantly played 30 minutes against the Los Angeles Lakers in his first game back, so we shall see.

Long-term is where things get very interesting for the Bucks and where DiVincenzo fits into the rotation and, potentially, as a starter. I want to ignore the trade rumors that have surrounded him ever since he was nearly traded to the Sacramento Kings and focus purely on what he can bring to the team this season.

The biggest thing to watch when DiVincenzo makes his return in a couple of days will be to see how explosive he is and how much burst he has after an injury to his foot/ankle. He was such a valuable offensive player for being able to fly in for offensive rebounds and attack a scrambling defense and he used his burst on defense to fly around for deflections and pick off passes.

He will likely start out giving the Bucks some much-needed secondary ball-handling off the bench as he ramps up his activity (and for as long as George Hill is out) and should provide some energy with his defense and rebounding as well as his shooting.

It will take some time for him to get back to what we saw from him last season, where he averaged 10.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. Heck, we may not see him get to that form again.

For all of the hullabaloo that Grayson Allen has gotten for his incredible shooting and fit with Giannis Antetokounmpo (which I have also found to be quite impressive), he is shooting around 37 percent from 3 in his last 12 games. DiVincenzo shot right around that same mark last season and his defense would certainly give him the edge if that’s where Allen stays for the remainder of the season.

That isn’t a fair assumption to make of Allen, given that he shot well over 40 percent in his first 14 games, so there should be another hot streak coming. I will always give the shooting and general scoring edge to Allen, especially after what he showed to begin the season when he was in a bigger role.

According to NBA.com/stats, his catch-and-shoot numbers in his last 12 games are still virtually identical (38.5 percent) to DiVincenzo’s last season (38.1 percent) and I think Allen is a more versatile shooter in terms of his pull-up shooting. DiVincenzo’s shooting last year was a career-best and we may not see him hit that again this season with his injury.

If he maintains a bench role once he’s back to near-100 percent, he will be a very dynamic piece for Budenholzer to use as a reserve, who can come in when Holiday needs a breather in the playoffs and still provide a solid defensive impact, or come in for Allen and make their lineup even better defensively.

He would also provide a decent scoring punch which the reserve unit sorely needs with Bobby Portis in the starting lineup and having to rely heavily on Hill and Pat Connaughton with the older fringe reserve players not adding much in that regard.

For as much as fans want to ship DiVincenzo out of town for an upgrade (which is entirely fair), they also need to realize that he is a great piece to have for this season and, potentially, going forward as well.