Brooklyn Nets: Trading Spencer Dinwiddie would be a bizarre outcome

The NBA rumor mill has set its sights on Brooklyn Net guard Sp encer Dinwiddie. Per report, he’s a desired commodity among Western Conference contenders.

The Brooklyn Nets find themselves in a strange but enviable position. They need a third star, or something close to it, but probably don’t have an internal candidate for that role. Unless you believe Caris LeVert can play that role alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, of course.

They may not have that third star yet, but they have a number of tradeable pieces that might help them get such a thing.

One trade candidate appears to be guard Spencer Dinwiddie. He’s crafted a solid career for himself after being given up on far too soon as a youngster by the Detroit Pistons, trading him for essentially nothing to the Chicago Bulls, who waived him to make room for the likes of Michael Carter-Williams. Dinwiddie languished in the G League for the Bulls until the Brooklyn Nets offered him a contract.

In his four seasons with the Nets, he’s averaged 14.4 points per game and started 129 of his 271 appearances. Last season he averaged 20.6 points and 6.8 assists in 31.2 minutes per game, although he contracted COVID-19 and did not join his team in the NBA bubble in Orlando.

Dinwiddie has flourished with the benefit of development and time to learn and mature on the court, and now he’s a player that contending teams in the Western Conference desire via trade. Per report from Brian Windhorst on his Hoop Collective podcast:

"Nets want to upgrade roster … but there’s a possibility [Spencer Dinwiddie]might be available depending on the deal, that’s what I’ve heard. Or at least there’s an expectation it could be. I don’t know if he’s available right now … but that’s possible."

As far as reports go, it’s a bit vague, but Dinwiddie makes sense for a number of teams in the Western Conference in particular. The Los Angeles Lakers need a guard who can handle the ball and create offense for both himself and others, and Kawhi Leonard is determined that his LA Clippers find a point guard who can shoot and run the offense.

Both of those teams make sense as possible trade partners if such a deal was to go down. Another team that has appeared in rumors as far back as September is the New Orleans Pelicans, but that would have a completely different angle now compared to back then, because new Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy is the same man who drafted Dinwiddie and traded him from the Pistons to the Bulls.

Of course, it’s all just business, but there’s a lot of water to fit under that bridge.

There’s another angle to this. The Brooklyn Nets got Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the first place largely because of Spencer Dinwiddie’s recruiting efforts to get them into the fold. Dinwiddie sold Irving on Brooklyn, and Irving got Durant on board. Now because this superstar duo accelerated the organization’s timetable to contend for a championship, Spencer Dinwiddie may find himself being the odd man out.

The NBA can be a cold and unfair place, and Spencer Dinwiddie might find himself bearing the brunt of that in Brooklyn as the offseason begins in a few weeks.