Free agent point guard Spencer Dinwiddie is nearing a deal to join the Wizards, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) says the two sides are working toward a three-year deal that will be worth roughly $60MM.
Dinwiddie had been linked to Washington repeatedly in the days leading up to free agency, but there was some uncertainty about whether a union would be possible — the Wizards don’t have the cap space necessary to sign the point guard outright and the Nets will be averse to taking on any unwanted salary in a sign-and-trade arrangement.
If Dinwiddie is close to an agreement with the Wizards, perhaps the involved parties – Dinwiddie, the Wizards, and the Nets – are confident they’ll able to work out a deal that appeals to everyone. We’ll await further details.
If the Wizards land Dinwiddie, they’ll be getting a 28-year-old point guard who is coming off a lost season. He appeared in just three games before missing the rest of the 2020/21 campaign due to a partially torn ACL. However, Dinwiddie was reportedly cleared for all basketball activities in June and the expectation is that he’ll be good to go for the fall.
In his last full season, Dinwiddie averaged 20.6 PPG and 6.8 APG on .415/.308/.778 shooting in 64 games (31.2 MPG) for Brooklyn in 2019/20.
The Wizards have agreed to send their starting point guard, Russell Westbrook, to the Lakers for a package that doesn’t include a point guard, so addressing the position was a top priority for the team in free agency. That Westbrook trade is not yet official and could be expanded to include Brooklyn if necessary.