NBA
LeBron James and Anthony Davis on Spencer Dinwiddie
The 30-year-old was present to watch the Lakers’ victory against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night, sat next to Rob Pelinka.
The Los Angeles Lakers decided not to make any signings before the NBA free agency deadline. Coach Darvin Ham and the executives believe that this squad is capable of turning things around and fighting to become one of the best teams in the Western Conference.
Even though the trade deadline passed on 8 February, the Lakers will be incorporating Spencer Dinwiddie in the coming days as he is a free agent. The 30-year-old guard was released by the Brooklyn Nets after being acquired by the Toronto Raptors in a player trade this week.
Dinwiddie was even in attendance Friday night to watch the Los Angeles Lakers’ 139 to 122 victory against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Crypto.com Arena. At the end of the meeting, Lakers superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis spoke about Dinwiddie, who will sign up as soon as he clears waivers on Saturday.
What have Lakers players said about Dinwiddie?
LeBron James was asked about what he thinks Spencer Dinwiddie can contribute for the second stretch of the season: “Playmaking, another ball handler, another shot-maker. Another guy, another veteran. He creates plays, has good ball handling and makes important shots. Any time you can add a veteran with that ability, it helps. So we’ll see what happens,” the Lakers legend commented
Those words were echoed by Anthony Davis, who added: “He is a very big point guard, he makes good throws and creates plays. Obviously, we’ve seen what he did with Brooklyn, what he did with Dallas making big plays for them - he’s a well-established player”.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Lakers will bring in Spencer Dinwiddie on a $1.5 million deal using remainder of their mid-level exception, allows teams to sign players without exceeding their salary cap or luxury tax, for the remainder of the season.
The LA-born guard has averaged 12.6 points and six assists per game with a 39.1% shooting percentage and 32% success rate from the field. The Pelicans, Sixers and Mavericks were all reported to be interested in hiring Dinwiddie, who in the end, decided to join his hometown team.