Spencer Dinwiddie doesn’t have many fond memories of his days with the Nets, especially his most recent go-round, writes Lucas Kaplan of NetsDaily. In an appearance on the Run Your Race podcast hosted by former teammate Theo Pinson, Dinwiddie said the time he spent in Brooklyn left him “extremely scarred.”
The 31-year-old guard, who now plays for the Mavericks, recalled being acquired by the Nets at the 2023 trade deadline. He walked into a difficult situation after the team had just parted with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and needed a veteran presence to hold the young players together. Fans were turning against the organization and there was a feeling that more of its prominent players were on their way out.
“You asked me to do a very specific task, and I did it,” Dinwiddie said. “‘We need to stay in the playoffs. You need to help feature our trade pieces.’ ‘Okay, I will do what you ask of me.’ And then the reward that they gave me was, ‘we’re going to kick you out the door.’”
Dinwiddie was referring to being shipped to Toronto at the 2024 deadline after a tumultuous year in which he became a target of fan anger and reportedly clashed with coach Jacque Vaughn. Dinwiddie believes people in the Nets organization added to the negative reputation he developed during his time with the Wizards.
“To go back to a team that you spent like five years at, had a lot of success at, basically lead the league in assists because they asked you to help feature their trade pieces and whatnot,” Dinwiddie said, “and then basically kicked out the door — and for them to re-bring up the ‘cancer’ label because of what happened in [Washington] D.C., if another team doubles down on that, it effectively kills your career.”
The Raptors waived Dinwiddie immediately after the trade, but he was only out of the league for a couple of days before signing with the Lakers. After playing a bench role for the rest of the season in L.A., he moved on to Dallas this summer and is earning rotation minutes with the defending Western Conference champions.
Kaplan points out that the Nets gave Dinwiddie his first NBA opportunity when they signed him off Chicago’s G League affiliate in 2016. He became a fixture during a rebuilding process and remained with the team until the summer of 2021 when he agreed to a sign-and-trade that sent him to Washington as part of a five-team deal.
Dinwiddie covers some other ground during the podcast, including the surprising 2019 playoff run when he says, “We didn’t know the business enough to know that we were supposed to be bad” and the 2021 team with Durant, Irving and James Harden that Dinwiddie believes could have won a title if not for injuries.
However, Dinwiddie also believes that the Nets spread negative gossip about him around the league, even though Kaplan notes that the team never made any negative public statements. Kaplan adds that Nets officials refused to respond to Dinwiddie’s podcast comments.
“There was already things that were taking place while I was in Brooklyn the first time that you rise above, you get past, you’re learning the NBA, you’re a kid, you chalk it up as a learning experience,” Dinwiddie said. “But now you’re on the other side of that, and all the apologies and things for everything that happened the first time … I said, ‘Guys, listen, you remember what happened the first time. It was it was rocky the first time. Just, you know, please. Please, don’t, don’t do that.’”
“… Run Your Race podcast hosted by former teammate Theo Pinson”
Is there a player who doesn’t have a podcast?
I don’t recall what happened to him in Washington, but not everyone gets second chances.
Every one of his teammates found him annoying and ignored him when he tried to get them to organize or change the way they played, pushing him out the door in the Kristaps Porzingis trade.
He was still upset that he was shipped here in Dc from the nets as he was really the man there and things were doing good there for him. It was a betrayal. He has the right to get mad but he needs to move on.
Nets did do him wrong. And Washington didn’t know what they were doing. Still don’t. This is the business side of NBA. If you are not a big star. You can get moved to the side. And then you start to age on the wrong team. Dinwiddie lost money getting caught up in this. In Wash they said he was finished. That he had no legs. Things definitely changed after that second Nets outing. And fact is he was responsible for the Nets success under Atkinson.
The nets did him wrong by trading him for a better player? huh?
If Dinwiddie was responsible for Nets’ success under Atkinson, why didn’t the Cavs pick him up this year? And how do you account for Atkinson’s current success without Spencer?
Confused ….. why don’t you look it up yourself. Obviously don’t have a clue.
Atkinson was gone with Dinwiddie. And Dinwiddie got hurt after his best yr ever. He was Atkinson best player. Who led that team and helped them grow up. That’s being responsible. I’m sure Kenny would love to have him. But he don’t run Cavs.
Dinwiddie time with Nets got nothing to do with Cavs lol. You might want to figure that out.
The answer to the first question – the Cavs didn’t need a guard and Dallas did. The answer to the second question – Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
What he did for Kenny A. Got nothing to do with Cavs and Kenny now. He doesn’t get it. I’m a KA guy always. But what Dinwiddie is saying is true imo.Plus lol you know. Any experience that can still play only helps a contender. It’s why Mavs went after him.
All I can say negative on Dinwiddie after watching nearly all his Nets games in his career is that he seems to absolutely love complaining to the refs and gives up on getting back on defense while he’s busy yelling at them. Also, he’s not a presence on defense anyway. I feel like almost all the best teammates are also the ones who play hard all the time, particularly on defense.
He put the pistons on blast, then the wizards, and now the nets. Maybe there’s a common denominator…
Is that common denominator that all three franchises have done nothing but step in their own feet for the last decade?
“I did what you ask” meaning “be a point guard and pass the ball” do not play hero ball to get your numbers up…thinking you will get a big extension. the real problem with dinwiddie is he thinks hes a star scoring point guard when he is a journey man.
NETS totally suck as an organisation, fans can’t but hate them!
They did as well spread lies about Hartenstein trying to finish his career for no good reason, took him years to get where he deserves, having lost tens of millions of bucks, all thanks to the Nets!
Sickening lack of humanity in that franchise!
SD owes his NBA career to BKN. After being released by two losing teams, they gave him a chance to play as a 6th man, including time at PG. He LEFT via Free Agency to WSH for a 60 mm contract that he would never have sniffed but for the opportunity only BKN was willing to give him. Understandable separation on both ends (BKN now had KD and KI, along with other decent size contracts, and was already historically deep in the tax).
The second time around? LOL. At that point, he was a twice traded matching contract. It’s the price of signing a 20 mm a year contract, and not being a star. Sounds like they asked him to do his job. He wasn’t promised anything because he didn’t sign a contract with him the second time around.