Brooklyn Nets: 5 takeaways from a rough night in Montreal

4. Spencer Dinwiddie in a funk

Spencer Dinwiddie is quick to tell people that last season, in which he was a finalist for Most Improved Player honors in the NBA, was not — as many have called it — a breakout year for him.

Instead, he believed that he took a small step forward rather than a significant one.

He told Brian Lewis of the New York Post that the progress last season was not what he hoped for.

"“I was happy clearly, but I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do, or feel like I can do or anything I was capable of. It felt more like a half-step than a whole step. We still lost games. I still could’ve been more efficient with my own shooting. And we didn’t make the playoffs. “So, in my head as a player, there are all these milestones still to reach that I feel like we’re capable of, one individually and two as a unit, to do.”"

Dinwiddie didn’t shoot well last season, finishing the year with a .387/.326/.813 slash line.

But compared to how he’s shot the ball this preseason, he was Stephen Curry in 2017-18.

Dinwiddie was 1-for-6 against the Raptors Wednesday and went 0-for-3 from deep. For the preseason, that leaves him at 7-for-25 overall (28 percent) and just 1-for-10 from long range (10 percent).

While he did other things Wednesday, finishing with seven rebounds and eight assists — both team highs — in his 28 minutes, he also turned the ball over twice and was a minus-16 on the night.

Dinwiddie has been the focus of trade speculation involving the Phoenix Suns and earlier this week, after the San Antonio Spurs lost starting point guard Dejounte Murray to a season-ending knee injury, speculation almost immediately percolated that the Spurs could target Dinwiddie.

Throw in the fact that he’s entering the final year of his contract and that the Nets have until Dec. 8 before they can even discuss an extension and there’s a lot of uncertainty there.

Is it affecting Dinwiddie’s play? Maybe, maybe not. But something certainly isn’t clicking right now.