Nets: 3 replacements for Spencer Dinwiddie after ACL injury

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.

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.

2. Zhaire Smith

It’s not uncommon for a playoff team like the Sixers to ditch rookies if they don’t immediately assimilate into the rotation, but Philadelphia barely gave Smith any chance to crack the starting rotation. Smith, who already wasn’t well-received by fans after Philly traded Villanova star Mikal Bridges to get him, played in just 13 games over two years, averaging a pitiful 4.6 minutes per game in 2019-20.

Smith was picked in the first round out of Texas Tech because he is a premium athlete with solid leaping ability, energy on the defensive end, and an improving jump shot, all three of which are traits that Dinwiddie has in spades. If Marks is in the mood for a bit of a gamble, he could look to bring in Smith.

The Nets really have to be sold on Smith’s potential, as Smith was signed and waived by the Memphis Grizzlies earlier in the season in order to guarantee that Memphis holds his G League rights. However, the Nets should bring him onto the NBA roster, as he is a top-shelf athlete that wasn’t given a chance on a Sixers team that never let him work through the problems NBA rookies are often faced with. If Smith continues to stink, the Nets can cut bait with a minimal financial burden. If he returns to the player we saw in Lubbock who was attacking the rim with ease, Brooklyn might’ve unearthed a potential rotation fixture that could help them in the postseason.

1. Emmanuel Mudiay

Because of how young he was when he entered the league and how nomadic his career has been to this point, Mudiay feels like a fading veteran, even though he is just 24 years old. A former top-10 recruit who chose playing in China over college basketball, Mudiay was picked seventh overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 2015 draft, as the 6-3 guard’s ability to play both backcourt spots, handle the ball, run the fast break, and get to the rim all make him look like a future All-Star at point guard.

While he has put up respectable numbers of 11.0 points and 3.8 assists per game on 40 percent shooting, Mudiay has played for three teams in five years, following up a career-high 14.8 points per game with the New York Knicks in 2018-19 with a career-low mark of 7.3 points per game as a backup for Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley with the Utah Jazz last year. Now is the perfect time for the Nets to buy low on him, as Mudiay might be the best option on the market for Brooklyn if they want to replace Dinwiddie without giving more minutes to Luwawu-Cabarrot or Shamet.

Mudiay is not a great three-point shooter, as evidenced by his 32 percent career clip, nor will he be the defensive Swiss Army knife the long-limbed, 6-6 Dinwiddie was, but he’s proven that he can be an effective scorer in the league as a starter or reserve. In fact, his ability to penetrate would make him a refreshing change of pace on a Nets roster loaded with shooters, even giving him the potential to run the second unit as a point guard when Irving is resting on the bench. Mudiay might not have lived up to the hype he compiled as a high schooler, but he’s a solid NBA guard, and the Nets should pounce on him.

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