Multiple reports have surfaced recently regarding Spencer Dinwiddie and his future with the Washington Wizards. Washington isn’t a big market team, therefore it takes a more profound story to gain coverage. All of a sudden, Dinwiddie’s teammates don’t even want to play with him. How come?
We’ll start with the obvious. Dinwiddie is better with the ball in his hands. This is why his numbers were so fantastic when Bradley Beal sat out. This season, Dinwiddie has averaged 28 PTS, 8 AST, and 7.3 TRB. Although these numbers extricate from a small-scale sample size of 3 games, you could see the difference in his game compared to when Beal was playing beside him. Without Beal, Dinwiddie was freer to play his style of basketball. When Beal came back, Dinwiddie shied away from shooting and looked to pass before even glimpsing towards the basket. With Dinwiddie’s few shots throughout that period, an unhealthy amount of them were step-back threes or difficult shots at the end of the shot-clock. When Beal came back from injury, Dinwiddie took more shots, but he has yet to return to his old self. This is because Kyle Kuzma has taken the role of Bradley Beal. Dinwiddie will take shots, but they aren’t good shots. He’s a downhill player, not a three-point specialist. Kuzma is being himself right now. He’s playing at his speed and coach Unseld will occasionally call isos for him. The important thing is that Kuzma doesn’t need isos, he just drives and shoots without hesitation. With Dinwiddie, there is always hesitation. It’s almost as if he’s nervous to miss the shot and in his mind, he needs to pass the ball.
Where do Dinwiddie and the team go from here? Well, if they’re going to trade him, they need to get a starting-caliber point guard in return. You might be wondering about a possible Beal trade. First of all, I don’t believe the Wizards are going to trade Beal, at least not for now. Even if they did, teams won’t want to trade their star player because of his injury and performance this season, therefore teams will trade multiple depth players and picks. The bottom line is, Washington can’t trade Dinwiddie for a couple of role players and picks and then have Raul Neto or Aaron Holiday as the starting point guard. Options could include Jalen Brunson, Dennis Schroder, Terry Rozier, and Tyrese Maxey. These trades all differ, of course, with either the Wizards giving more or the other team giving more.
The players have made their thoughts clear, and to keep this franchise afloat (which it’s already sinking), players will need to maintain their composure and the front office will need to act quickly (trade deadline is tomorrow, Wednesday, Feb 10th at 3:00 PM EST) to complete an array of deals that will propel this organization into the future.
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