Spencer Dinwiddie has been out for the Nets since the first week of the season with a partially-torn ACL, but he’s hoping to make his return to the court if the Nets make it to the NBA Finals, reports The New York Daily News’ Kristian Winfield. Winfield writes that Dinwiddie, who has been rehabbing in Los Angeles at Phenom Sports Performance since his surgery, is planning to rejoin the team soon.
“He’s going to be in Brooklyn to support his team,” a source told Winfield. “He definitely is.”
The Finals are slated to begin six months after Dinwiddie’s surgery, and the Nets point guard, who has been posting his rehab process on Instagram, hopes to have the fastest possible recovery. “I think it’s been 17 weeks. What’s the fastest anybody ever returned to Bball? Lol,” he captioned a workout video in early May.
Head coach Steve Nash has preached a more patient approach.
“It’s very difficult to, one, expose him to full NBA playoff basketball with the type of injury he has. We want to look out for his long-term health, first and foremost,” Nash said in May. “And second of all, adapting back to the team environment. All those things together, it seems like it’s probably very unlikely. But who knows? Stranger things have happened.”
As of last week, Nash and Dinwiddie had not had any conversations about Dinwiddie rejoining the team. The team’s experience with lingering injuries to stars Kevin Durant and James Harden is likely to make them more cautious, though general manager Sean Marks wasn’t willing to go as far as rule his return out.
“I would never bet against Spencer Dinwiddie,” Marks said on April 16. “That’s what we saw four years ago with him. He has a chip on his shoulder, he loves to prove people wrong, so who am I to sit up here and say he’s not going to be able to do something?”
There’s also the question of Dinwiddie’s potential free agency. The 28-year-old has a player option for next season worth just over $12MM and has previously expressed his expectation to decline it and hit the open market. It’s unclear if that would play a part in his decision to push his recovery timetable up and return to action faster than expected.
Of course, the Nets still have to get past the Bucks and either the Sixers or the Hawks if Dinwiddie is to get a chance to make such a decision. They currently lead Milwaukee 2-1, with Game Four on Sunday.
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imo, Knicks don’t need Dinwiddie. Low efficiency scorer should be low on their list. They need guys who can actually hit shots, and Dinwiddie’s career 31% three point shooting (41% overall) won’t cut it.
He’d be an improvement over Elfrid Payton, almost by default, but not really a game changer.
Ranking
Knicks are interested in
Duncan Robinson – relative low cost
Jalen Brunson – his father Rick is Knick
Schroeder
Lonzo
Norman Powell
Conley
Lowry
Hardaway
Enough cap to get two players
I’ll take Powell out of that group and keep whatever space is remaining. Could get a trade down the line.
If I was hardway I’ll say away from the knicks since he so much better away from them. Don’t forget the rumors they might want Kelly oubur
When he started in 2019 his season was the same as CJ McCollum and Malcom Brogdon for PER, True Shooting % and VORP. His PER was trending upward the last 3 years going into this season. He’s solid. If someone got him for 3 or 4 years at a reasonable rate, 15-16M to be a starter or ultra 6th man, I think that would pan out okay. Hes better than Schroder for sure.
That’s funny , real funny. By default huh. Definitely got no EYE. He’s an %.80 career FT shooter. He just made the Nets a playoff team with a 20 n 8 season. He’s clutch a young vet who is not scared of big lights. He’s a big guard who plays both ways and can play the 2. He and RJ would be biggest guard tandem in NBA. Knicks were a 4 th seed with a backup PG who did nothing in second half. Dinwiddie won’t go on vacation. He’s a steady 18 n 8 with good D. A solid vet who doesn’t make mistakes. Better looks means better shooting. He was the main guy for Nets. Fact you compare him to Payton says a lot about you. You could not be more wrong about him. I pray Knicks sign him.
lmao Al, you’re way off base. Why are you mentioning his FT % while ignoring his awful FG%? 41% overall, 31% from three for his career.
And haha, ‘he made the Nets a playoff team’? They were under .500 and got swept in the first round! Do you have any idea what you’re talking about? ‘A steady 18 n 8’? He’s never had more than 6.8 APG in a season and only topped 18 ppg once. Come on, man.
Knicks would be fools to sign him, especially coming off a major injury. Knicks need *shooters*. They don’t need low efficiency brick machines like Dinwiddie. Saving the cap space would be more valuable than signing this dude.
And I only compared him to Payton because that’s who he would be replacing, which I thought was obvious. (but even still, Payton averages more APG over his career, shoots a higher percentage, and plays better D).
Teammates want Dinwiddie to shoot more. He could always shoot less. He’s a team player who does not demand to start… But I hope to see it.
You forget the momentum the 2019 Nets built with limited salary & talent. Irving & Durant didn’t. No need for D’Lo, or worrying about 3 stars getting along, despite being who they are.
Or Dins never recovers. But teams will take him regardless quite sure.
Dinwiddie’s a bright guy and likely doing this for “show” (as in show teams his injury is no factor, or will be by next season at least). He’s floated this before in connection with his rehab (historically great he says), and now with Nash having looked sideways at a reporter asking about it, it’s a good move to appear on the bench – without a limp – talking about being close.
Of course Dinwiddie would have an extremely difficult time getting substantial minutes for himself behind both Kyrie and Harden if everyone was healthy right now. He will find a much larger role for himself elsewhere in free agency this summer, there should be plenty of teams willing to take the risk despite his injury.
What’s Dinwiddie motivation to come back? How much will that increase his next contract? I doubt he leaves Nets.
There is no risk it’s a minor. Not a serious injury. He’s making a mistake to come back. He wants exposure and bigger contract. He should just sign two yr deal and get paid afterwards. Dinwiddie is a true talent. Don’t get why so called basketball fans cants see that.
Dinwiddie should not risk his health for a team that doesn’t even want him. He should stay the course and be ready for his new team next season. Since he’s from the West Coast hopefully one of the L.A. teams will pick him up.