Spencer Dinwiddie is enjoying something of a career resurgence following a disappointing spell with the Washington Wizards. Dinwiddie was part of the trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Washington, while he and Davis Bertans became a part of Luka Doncic’s supporting cast with the Mavericks.
The Mavericks find themselves 3-1 down in the Western Conference Finals, but they weren’t expected to even reach this stage, and Dinwiddie has been a huge part of their achievements in getting there. The guard has excelled in a role off the bench, scoring in bunches in the regular season as well as hitting some clutch game-winners.
His playoff form has not been as good, but he dropped 30 huge points in the Game 7 blowout of the Phoenix Suns; his confidence going into it was commendable as well. He may have had a few moments to be proud of this year, but his proudest moment before this was a conversation he had with Kobe Bryant when he was a part of the Brooklyn Nets:
“I felt like this was the first time [Kobe] was looking at me as the basketball player Spencer, you know what I mean? For him to tell me that, in his book, I’m an All-Star and stuff like that, talk about a popularity contest before and you don’t win things like that when you’re me, so for him to say that, I didn’t need to be selected anymore, because I was an All-Star, you feel me, it’s not just like my family, it was the guy.”
Towards the end of his career, Bryant made it a point to encourage players younger than him whenever he could, so it’s no surprise that he gave Dinwiddie such high praise. In his best season, Spencer scored over 20 points per game on the Nets but missed out on an All-Star berth. There may be more accolades in the future for him, but the memory of Kobe’s words will likely always retain a special place in his heart.
