Spencer Dinwiddie Would Likely Return to Nets If They Offered 5-Year, $125M Contract

“Now, for all the fans that think because I opted out I have to leave or something like that, no, this is very much in the Nets’ hands, you feel me? I think my full max is like five [years], $196 [million] or something like that. And nobody’s sitting here saying I’m going to get five [years], $196 [million]–so before anybody tries to kill me, nobody’s saying that.

“But the Nets have the ability to do something that other people can’t. If they come to the table like that, and they’re being aggressive and are saying, ‘Hey we got five [years], $125 [million] for you,’ I would say there’s a high likelihood that I go back to the Nets, you know what I mean? But if they don’t come to the table like that, and they’re like ‘Oh, we’re going to give you a three for 60,’ well, anybody can do that.”

Dinwiddie opted out of the final year of his contract to become a free agent, but the Nets still technically have a leg up on the competition when it comes to signing him.

Since the Nets own Dinwiddie’s Bird Rights, they can sign him to a five-year deal, while no other team can offer more than a four-year contract.

The 28-year-old Dinwiddie spent the past five seasons in Brooklyn after beginning his NBA career with a two-year stint as a member of the Detroit Pistons.

His breakout season occurred in 2019-20, when he averaged career highs across the board with 20.6 points, 6.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.9 three-pointers made per contest in 64 games.

This season, Dinwiddie appeared in only three games before suffering a partially torn ACL, which landed him on the shelf for the remainder of the campaign.

In the three games before getting injured, Dinwiddie averaged 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 21.3 minutes per contest, which was 10 fewer minutes per game than he played the previous season.

The sample size was small, but it was always likely Dinwiddie was going to have a lesser role in 2020-21 with Kevin Durant returning after missing all of the previous season and Kyrie Irving seeing more action after missing all but 20 games the prior year.

Brooklyn also acquired guard James Harden from the Houston Rockets during the season, moving Dinwiddie even further down the pecking order.

Dinwiddie would be no better than the fourth offensive option if the Nets re-sign him and perhaps even fifth since sharpshooting guard Joe Harris figures into the mix as well.

Given all the Nets have invested in Durant, Irving and Harden, it is difficult to envision them giving Dinwiddie the type of contract he desires, even if he could be a big-time contributor off the bench.