When the Warriors were seeking to shore up their bench after losing Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II to free agency, Donte DiVincenzo was a gamble. He had a smattering of injury issues to end a promising tenure in Milwaukee before moving on to Sacramento whilst they were still searching for a full basketball identity: He wasn’t playing his best basketball, and it was unclear whether that was his new normal.

Fast forward today, and if Golden State’s record was better, DiVincenzo would be a highly-valuable 6th Man of the Year candidate.

What DDV’s brought to a team in an identity struggle of their own this season has been invaluable. There’s been a lot of times where his hustle and game IQ has saved wins or given them at least at shot in what turned out to be losses, and last night, his play was once again instrumental in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

For a long stretch of the contest, he looked like the only Warrior not named Draymond Green who was locked in: Stephen Curry looked declawed by Jrue Holiday up until the final two minutes of the game, Jordan Poole continued his poor stretch of play, and Klay Thompson was solid, but not as aggressive as the Dubs needed him to be until the end. DiVincenzo’s 6 threes and 10 rebounds against a much-bigger Bucks squad were both key, as was his perimeter defense against Holiday and at times Khris Middleton.

Donte’s shown the potential of his versatility in his role with the Warriors, and he may be the missing piece they’ve been waiting for to make their small-ball lineups work. On top of shooting and smart point-of-attack execution, he brings play connection and hustle both on and off-ball. It’s been hard to tell so far because Andrew Wiggins has missed so much time, but he looks almost a better fit for Steve Kerr’s newest iteration of the infamous Golden State “death lineup”.

Slotting him into Jordan Poole’s initial spot in the closing five yielding excellent results last night. Their limited minutes produced an unfathomable 65.7 net rating, and while that can be attributed largely to Curry’s heroics, he fit into the role that unit needed him to perfectly in securing the win.

The closing unit averages around 5 minutes a game together in the 9 games they’ve been paired up, but they produce efficiently with a +2.4 plus/minus rating. Kevon Looney is an excellent player, but adding Wiggins in his place fields a four-out lineup that has ball movement and defensive aptitude at every position.

DiVincenzo’s skills as a plug-and-play guard this season have affected winning more often than they haven’t. There’s been stretches where he’s looked like the most important player on the court: He constantly sets the tone on both ends, even on an off shooting night or when hawking a major offensive talent, and his attitude has been nothing short of excellent.

There’s a high chance that he’ll command a larger contract should he opt out this summer. The Warriors have to do their due diligence to ensure they can keep him, regardless of how this season ends. It’d be a mistake to let him walk given how well he’s panned out as a fit, and the success of a three-guard lineup which subs him in for Poole means there’s potential for him to fit even better depending on what the time needs.

DDV’s versatility has been a blessing. He unlocks new elements of typical Warriors small-ball as a secondary playmaker who can shoot and defend, and do all that while not needing the ball in his hands so that Steph and Draymond Green can work to get the chaos in motion. While going small always presents challenges, he shores up a lot of the holes that last season’s new “death lineup" had: When Andrew Wiggins returns from his personal issue, no matter when it is, expect to see him, Curry, Thompson, Green, and DiVincenzo wrecking havoc on whoever’s in their way.

(Photo credit: Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)