Spencer Dinwiddie journey: G-league to All-Star weekend
In just 14 months, the Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie has gone from toiling in the G-League to a homecoming at NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
The 24-year-old point guard won’t play in the All-Star Game itself, but he has been selected to participate in the Skills Challenge as part of All-Star Weekend from Feb. 16-18 at Staples Center. It will be a special homecoming for Dinwiddie, who is from Woodland Hills, Calif.
“It’s a great honor to be able to go there and participate and represent the Nets organization and all the hard work they invested in me,” said Dinwiddie, who scored 23 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out nine assists in a 102-99 loss to the Lakers on Friday at Barclays Center. “And I think the cherry on top is it’s in L.A. and that’s my hometown. So it’s a wonderful feeling.”
After being drafted and traded by the Pistons, Dinwiddie got waived by the Bulls. He was laboring in the G-League with Windy City when the Nets signed him on Dec. 8, 2016. Given that sliver of opportunity, Dinwiddie has made good on it.
“A lot of guys get an opportunity in this league,” DeMarre Carroll said.. “Some guys get them early, some get them late, but when you get your opportunity you have to take advantage of it. You have to prove yourself.
“I feel like his opportunity came late and now he’s proving himself. Him going to represent the Brooklyn Nets at the All-Star game is not [just] cool for him, but it’s cool for the organization.”
Dinwiddie has kept the Nets afloat after Jeremy Lin and then D’Angelo Russell suffered knee injuries, the latter saying he didn’t think Dinwiddie had gotten the credit he deserved for the job he had done. But that may be starting to change, and his bid to the Skills Challenge is proof.
“Big time, I think it’s more than deserved. I think he’s going to go out there and represent,” Russell said. “I think he’s played well, and he’s earned his respect around the league.”
The Skills Challenge will be at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17, airing on TNT. Though Nets general manager Sean Marks had called to tip him off that he had made the cut, the official announcement aired on TNT as well Thursday night, and Dinwiddie got to share that moment with his family, visiting from California.
“Honestly one of those [special] moments was [Thursday] night and being able to sit with my family and have the announcement made on TNT, and them seeing it and it being really real for them, more than me just saying, ‘Hey guys, I got selected.’ It’s been a crazy journey,” Dinwiddie said. “It’s been well-documented, never No. 1 in anything. Still hopefully a long way to go, hopefully one day being a real legitimate All-Star and a champion and all those things. But for now to be recognized at 24 years old after being in the G-League 13 months ago, 14 months ago, it’s crazy. And for my family it’s surreal, and for me even when you stop and smell the roses a little bit, it’s pretty cool.
“Just to be able to share that moment with my parents — they were out here to watch a couple games right now, and they don’t really get a chance to come out to New York that much — so it was just kind of a full circle moment. It was really cool.”
Now comes the tough part: filling ticket requests.
“Tickets are only an issue because they cost so much money,” said Dinwiddie, on a $1.5 million deal that Toronto coach Dwane Casey called the league’s best bargain. “I understand a lot of these All-Stars, they’ve been in the league for a while, they’re max players and whatnot. I wish they could give me a partial guarantee-type price. That’d be nice.”