Spencer Dinwiddie is likely done for 2020-21, and the Nets need to work fast to replace him.
Amid all the glitz and glamour that the likes of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are bringing to the Brooklyn Nets this season, Spencer Dinwiddie figured to have an integral role as one of the starting guards next to Irving.
A Kenny Atkinson development project who ascended from a G League player to a borderline All-Star that averaged 20.6 points and 6.8 assists per game last year, Dinwiddie’s season was cut short after just three games thanks to a torn ACL.
Brooklyn Nets starter Spencer Dinwiddie has suffered a partially torn ACL in his right knee, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. It was suffered on contact, and there is no other structural damage in the knee.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 28, 2020
While Caris LeVert will likely take his starting spot and the likes of Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Landry Shamet will see extra minutes in his absence, Brooklyn will need to find someone who can replace Dinwiddie’s unique style of play on both ends of the floor. It won’t be easy, but Steve Nash and Sean Marks need to scour the free-agent market for a suitable stand-in.
These three free-agent guards could help replace Spencer Dinwiddie on the Nets.
3. Jamal Crawford
You can count on one hand the number of basketball players that engender more respect across the league than Crawford, who has been an effective bench scorer in this league for nearly two decades. Crawford is by no means a stranger to Brooklyn, as he signed with the Nets to provide Jacque Vaughn with some reinforcements after COVID-19 and injuries took a large chunk out of their backcourt rotation. With Vaughn once again back in Brooklyn as one of Nash’s assistants, Crawford could decide to link up Brooklyn in order to give them some offensive juice off of the bench.
While Crawford is far from the player who won three Sixth Man of the Year awards and was a lethal clutch performer for teams like the Hawks, Knicks, and Clippers, he’s averaged 10.3 points per game while shooting 34 percent from three over the last four seasons, a sign that age hasn’t blunted his razor-sharp basketball mind or messed with his silky-smooth jumper. Crawford, who had a very brief run as a scorer on Nets assistant Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks, could thrive in a high-octane offense like the one Nash is trying to install.
While the Nets are led by an established group of veterans, there are plenty of greenhorns on this roster that grew up watching Crawford take games over off of the bench, and adding a veteran voice in the room like his could help the Nets if/when crisis strikes and the ship needs to be steadied.