Nothin' But Nets
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Putting Spencer Dinwiddie’s Skill Challenge win into perspective

By Kunal Kohli

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 17: Spencer Dinwiddie
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 17: Spencer Dinwiddie /
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Spencer Dinwiddie proved himself as one of the league’s best passers during Saturday night’s Taco Bell Skills Challenge. He took home the trophy, beating Joel Embiid, Buddy Hield and others.

While one can simply write off Spencer Dinwiddie’s win as just a novelty All-Star weekend superlative, it was more than that. Dinwiddie took the opportunity to solidify himself as a quality guard in the league this season. Winning the Skills Challenge helped showcase that to the casual fan.

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Traditionally, bigger names win the Skills Challenge. Last year, Kristaps Porzingis won. And in the past, names like Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Steph Curry, Tony Parker and Dwayne Wade won. Now, Dinwiddie joins them.

Granted, Dinwiddie is not a hall of famer, or future hall of famer, like some of those names. However, winning the Skills Challenge grants him entrance to a club that includes them. That has benefited the two smaller names on the winners list: Patrick Beverly and Trey Burke.

Beverly went from being known as a point guard with great defensive skills and not a ton of offensive play, to a pretty good two-way guard. While he’s still known for his lockdown perimeter defense, winning the Skills Challenge helped his credibility on offense. For Burke, winning the challenge gave him more visibility. When playing in a small market like Utah as he was, the more eyes you can get on you usually translates to bigger contracts.

Dinwiddie is already seeing a ton of exposure. He was the second trending topic on Twitter after he won. For a few hours, Dinwiddie was one of the biggest subjects on social media. While the Brooklyn Nets do not need to worry about exposure, after all they play in one of the biggest cities in the world, the more spotlight their players can, the better.