The Nets already will be without James Harden for Game 2 of their playoff series vs. the Bucks, and no matter how far the Nets go, they don’t expect guard Spencer Dinwiddie to return this postseason.
There had been some speculation to the contrary, but Nets coach Steve Nash put that talk to rest in a press conference.
“He’s not with the team. I believe he’s rehabbing in LA and is doing very well,” Nash said of Dinwiddie, via Brian Lewis the New York Post. “I’ve had no conversations about him returning to the team or even returning to play at this point.”
Dinwiddie has been out since December with a torn ACL. He has made it pretty evident that he intends to exercise his player option and enter free agency this summer.
“I’m gonna be more than healthy by the time free agency starts, so just from a dollars perspective you kind of have to,” he told Shlomo Sprug of Forbes, citing an option that would pay Dinwiddie about $12.3 million. “(The option for) $12 million isn’t market value for a starting point guard. It’s probably about half, $20-25. So obviously it’s pretty concrete that I’m gonna opt out.”
Dinwiddie, 28, is 6-foot-5 and averaged career-highs of 20.6 points and 6.8 rebounds in 64 games last season.
He is likely to draw interest from the Heat, Pistons and Raptors, among others. He actually spent the first two years of his career (2014-16) with the Pistons before turning into a major player for the Nets.
“If Brooklyn wants to use my Bird Rights and sign me, I’d be thankful to be back and be able to go and try to win, hopefully, a second championship,” Dinwiddie told Sprung. “And if not, then as an unrestricted free agent you can kinda choose where you wanna go. It’s an interesting situation to be in.”
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