The Dallas Mavericks were busy yesterday, even after signing D’Angelo Russell to a two-year $12 million deal shortly after free agency began on Monday, as Dallas also hired Frank Vogel to their coaching staff and re-signed Dante Exum to a one-year deal.
Exum re-signing with Dallas immediately sparks a looming trade question with the Mavericks considering they have 16 players on their roster currently, but Exum’s return was also coupled with Spencer Dinwiddie’s exit, as Dallas prioritized signing Exum over Dinwiddie in what projects to be Dallas’ final addition this offseason.
Dinwiddie signed a one-year deal with the Charlotte Hornets yesterday, as Mavericks fans will bid farewell to a player who basically devoted two seasons to the organization.
Who knows if Dinwiddie will ever come back to the Mavericks before his career is over, but if this is truly his last stop in Dallas, then it serves as unfortunate ending for him here and he never truly got the fair shot he was looking for in Dallas in terms of being a role player that can contribute on a championship team.
In 53 games with the Mavs during the 2022-23 season, Dinwiddie had arguably his most efficient and best season with a team throughout his entire career, as he averaged 17.7 points, 5.3 assists, and 3.1 rebounds per game with shooting splits of 45.5/40.5/82.1. Dinwiddie has never been the hallmark of efficiency from the guard spot, but that season in Dallas along with the 2022 playoff run he partook in months earlier will be moments that Mavericks fans cherish, as Dinwiddie was a great secondary playmaker and ball handler for this squad and hit multiple big-time game-winners, all the while playing some of the most efficient basketball of his career.
Spencer Dinwiddie never got a fair shot in his second Dallas go-around
However, Dinwiddie signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, spurning the Mavericks, after roughly a season with the Brooklyn Nets, and after being relegated to a 3-and-D role with the Lakers and having to incur a lot of wear-and-tear as one of Brooklyn’s only lead ball handlers at the time, the 32-year-old guard looked a little less quick and explosive in his second season with Dallas.
That being said, though, Dinwiddie had to carry the Mavericks through a tumultuous stretch after Luka Doncic was traded and Kyrie Irving tore his ACL, as he and Brandon Williams were oftentimes the only true shot creators in the lineup post-Irving’s ACL injury.
Dinwiddie fought valiantly for the Mavericks all season long, and there were certainly signs of the player Dallas had from 2022-23, as Dinwiddie can still fill it up when his in-between game gets going and he’s draining 3-pointers from up top when defenders are consistently going under on screens against him, but he simply wasn’t that version of himself often enough for Dallas not to have other priorities in free agency.
Dinwiddie can still be a serviceable guard off the bench, especially for a young team like Charlotte, which could use some veteran mentorship. However, it will always be extremely bittersweet for Dinwiddie that he ended up getting shipped from Dallas in February of 2023 as part of the Irving trade, only for the Mavericks to then make the Finals the following season when he’s not on the team.
Then, to cap that saga off in what could’ve been a great opportunity to compete for a title this past season had Doncic stayed around, Dinwiddie didn’t even get to play in the playoffs this past season for Dallas, as he carried them handily as the lead ball handler in the lineup alongside Williams to close the season only to get benched in the two most important games of the season during the Play-In Tournament.
Dinwiddie will always be a beloved player in Dallas for how hard he competed on a nightly basis, him being one of the more intelligent minds in the league, as well as the class and poise he brought to the lineup every night regardless of individual circumstances, so many Mavericks fans will always remember him as a fan-favorite if he whenever he comes back to the DFW metroplex.
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