How Spencer Dinwiddie found his way back to the Dallas Mavericks (2024)

Whether it was a coincidence or divine intervention, the fact is Spencer Dinwiddie bought a family home in Dallas six months ago. Two months ago he signed a one-year deal to return to the Mavericks.

The reunion comes after a torrid year in the 31-year-old’s career and mere months after some strange comments about choosing the Lakers over the Mavericks as a free agent. Though the comments may have prickled Mavericks fans then, Dinwiddie insists that he is back with a team he loves and that his journey is a result of a moral imperative to take the road less traveled.

“I get to now live in [my house]. So it’s fun and it’s great to be back,” Dinwiddie said at the Mavericks’ media day Monday.

The Mavericks traded Dinwiddie to the Brooklyn Nets in February 2023 after a calendar year with the team as part of their acquisition of Kyrie Irving, but Dinwiddie said he quickly formed bonds with his new teammates. However, lack of team success prompted them to trade him to the Raptors in February of this year, where he faced the choice that would launch him into internet infamy.

“I had a choice between sitting with the Raptors for the rest of the year, or trying to join a contender, understanding, even though that would burn up my Bird rights and make free agency harder,” Dinwiddie explained. “When you’ve been in league that long, you want to play meaningful basketball. So shout out to the Raptors for being first-class.”

The Raptors waived him and he had two choices as a free agent: the Lakers and the Mavericks. He chose the Lakers, and when asked about that choice at a February press conference, Dinwiddie used an odd metaphor.

“Let’s say you’re a kid and you get whoopped by the bully. Dallas would have been like your mama, like, ‘It’s OK, baby.’ … Lakers are like your dad: ‘Nah, you better go out there and fight ‘til you win.’”

Dinwiddie acknowledged that he angered fans on both sides with the comment, but emphasized that he was misunderstood. He simply meant that, after a sour exit from Brooklyn, Los Angeles was out of his comfort zone and he wanted to be challenged.

“I was facing adversity and tried to take a harder path, in terms of growth, and so far in my life, that’s pretty much served me well. It’s how I got to the NBA. It’s how I rehabbed an ACL in five months, the fastest in basketball history...That’s really all it comes down to,” he said.

None of it dampens his excitement returning to Dallas, a place he loved enough to buy a family home in. In fact, in Dinwiddie’s first stint with the Mavericks, his parents told general manager Nico Harrison that they’d never seen him happier.

“Probably the most consistent basketball I’ve played has been in a Mavs jersey. The farthest I’ve gone in the playoffs — the Western Conference Finals — was in a Mavs jersey,” Dinwiddie said. “These guys are my friends. I’m still familiar with over half the team.”

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