NEW YORK — Spencer Dinwiddie got paid.
The Nets free agent guard has agreed to a sign-and-trade to the Washington Wizards, the New York Daily News has learned. The deal is three years worth $62 million, sources told The News, and the Nets will receive a second-round pick and pick swap consideration as part of the deal.
Dinwiddie’s sign-and-trade was so complicated, the Nets and Wizards needed to fold three additional teams into the equation. It is now a five-team trade that also includes: Russell Westbrook from the Wizards to the Lakers; Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell from the Lakers to the Wizards; and Chandler Hutchinson and a 2022 second-round pick from the Wizards to the Spurs. The Indiana Pacers are also part of the deal, and the Nets will receive an $11.4 million trade exception in exchange for Dinwiddie.
The trade exception can be used either to acquire a player in a trade for no outgoing salary. The Nets cannot use it to sign a free agent due to the hard cap rules associated with a sign-and-trade.
Frustrations mounted during negotiations as the free-agency market dried up around Dinwiddie, who was considered a target for several teams seeking starting caliber point guards. However, the Bulls signed Lonzo Ball, the Pelicans signed Devonte’ Graham, the Heat signed Kyle Lowry and the Lakers, of course, traded for Westbrook. As the money disappeared across the NBA, so did the options that gave Dinwiddie leverage.
The deal repays Dinwiddie for money left on the table in the past. The now-Wizards guard took a below-market-value deal worth $34 million over three years in 2018. Doing so gave the Nets flexibility to sign Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in free agency the following summer. Dinwiddie was also responsible for recruiting Irving to Brooklyn.
But the odds of a deal getting done began to look murky early on.
The Nets tried to pry Deni Avdija, the Wizards’ No. 9 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, as part of Dinwiddie’s sign-and-trade, according to several sources familiar with the matter. The Nets were uninterested in taking back Kuzma, Caldwell-Pope or Harrell, and ultimately did not, despite Kuzma and Caldwell-Pope’s standing as 2020 NBA champions alongside LeBron James in Los Angeles. While Nets GM Sean Marks proclaimed the franchise is willing to pay the luxury tax to create a championship contender, not taking players back from the Wizards says otherwise, especially not taking back Caldwell-Pope, a 3-and-D shooter who played a critical role on the 2020 championship Lakers team.
The Nets were unwilling to part ways with DeAndre Jordan as part of the deal despite his position fixed at the end of the rotation, league sources told The News. Jordan signed a four-year deal worth $40 million in the same offseason the Nets signed Irving and Kevin Durant. He is on the hook for $20 million over the next two seasons, but his bond with the Brooklyn Big 3 is too strong for a deal to consummate, per source.
With Dinwiddie out of Brooklyn, the Nets roster now has more clarity. Patty Mills, who signed a two-year deal at the mid-level, will play backup point guard behind James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Jevon Carter, who the Nets acquired in the Landry Shamet deal, can also play minutes at the one.
It’s understandable why the Nets don’t want to re-sign Dinwiddie themselves: With Irving and Harden playing the lion’s share of the backcourt minutes, paying an additional $20-25 million annually for Dinwiddie does not make business sense, especially with the luxury tax quadrupling that salary on the back end.
In dealing Dinwiddie to his preferred destination and facilitating a sign-and-trade, the Nets made good on a promise to take care of the guard they helped develop into a starter. Dinwiddie averaged 21 points and seven assists in the 2019-20 NBA season and carried the Nets as a starter in a stretch where both Irving and Caris LeVert missed more than 20 consecutive games due to injury.
Dinwiddie now joins a Wizards team that qualified for the playoffs this past season for the first time in three years. He replaces Westbrook and former Wizards star John Wall as the point guard who will support Bradley Beal in his quest to bring D.C. back to prominence.
Dinwiddie only played three games in the 2020-21 season and sat the remainder of the year due to a partial ACL tear. He was fully cleared to return to basketball activities on June 23 but sat out of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — where he would have played for the competitive Team Nigeria — in order to prioritize his free agency rather than risk re-injury.
The Nets, meanwhile, face the task of creating a roster that measures up to the Lakers, who have been the most active team in free agency. The Lakers acquired Westbrook and signed Carmelo Anthony, Trevor Ariza, Malik Monk, Wayne Ellington, Kent Bazemore, Kendrick Nunn, Dwight Howard and Marc Gasol. Of course, they already have James and Anthony Davis leading the charge.
The Nets are led by three of the brightest offensive stars in NBA history in Durant, Harden and Irving, as well as sharpshooter Joe Harris. They re-signed Blake Griffin and Bruce Brown, acquired Carter from the Suns, signed Mills as a free agent and drafted five rookies in the 2021 NBA draft, including first-rounders Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe.
