Spencer Dinwiddie is expected to opt out of his contract this offseason, which would make him a free agent for the first time since 2016.
He’ll arguably be the top point guard on the open market this summer, as he seemingly wants to cash in instead of giving the Nets a hometown discount.
“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?” Dinwiddie said on The Crossover Pod. “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, 196 — so before anybody tries to kill me, nobody’s saying that.”
While Nets fans and organization members alike would love to have Dinwiddie back, it’s hard to see them shelling out that huge contract to keep their longtime floor general in Brooklyn with Kyrie Irving and James Harden already at both guard positions.
“But the Nets have the ability to do something that other people can’t,” Dinwiddie continued. “If they come to the table like that, and they’re being aggressive and are saying, ‘Hey we got five, 125 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.”
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Dinwiddie could return as the team’s sixth man, but a five-year, $125 million would likely be too lucrative for the Nets to want to pay a sixth man.
The Lakers and Clippers have both been mentioned as possibilities for the Los Angeles native, but it remains to be seen if they have the cap space to bring him on board. The Heat and Mavericks also have interest in Dinwiddie, according to Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. The Knicks and Bulls are also seeking a point guard this offseason, so they may be in the mix as well.
Dinwiddie’s five-season stint in Brooklyn has been one of the better stories in the league over the last half-decade, as he went from a G-Leaguer almost out of the league to a borderline All-Star in just a short amount of time.
His play even got the attention of his idol Kobe Bryant, as Bryant told him that he was playing like an All-Star after he went off for 39 points against the Hawks in December 2019, a month before Bryant’s tragic passing.
