After standing pat at the trade deadline, Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka shifted his focus to the buyout market. His top priority was Spencer Dinwiddie, who was waived by the Toronto Raptors after a deadline deal.
Dinwiddie and Pelinka were seen at Friday’s home game against the New Orleans Pelicans as L.A. aggressively pursued the guard. The following morning, Dinwiddie signed with the Lakers, adding a third guard with Gabe Vincent’s return up in the air.
While the 6’5″ guard is having a rough season offensively, shooting 39.1% from the field and 32% from 3-point range, the hope is he turns it around in a win-now environment. Head coach Darvin Ham spoke about what Dinwiddie brings to the team as they ramp up for a postseason push.
“Great on-ball defense, great defense overall, playmaking. Just another positive and productive spirit to our group. He’s gonna acclimate himself really well and really soon,” Ham said after practice on Monday. “I just told him don’t worry about making mistakes, we’ll help him through it. Had a good session today on the floor with our offensive and defensive breakdowns. We’re super-duper excited to have him here.”
Dinwiddie’s shooting numbers are a cause for concern, but Ham believes that his system will help him thrive and turn things around offensively.
“Yeah, I just think with our system, I’m careful not to judge anyone based on what they’re doing somewhere else,” he said. “I know what he’s capable of doing, I know what we’re able to put around him and I think he’s gonna thrive.”
The L.A. native is no stranger to playing with stars as he had success alongside Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. Ham thinks Dinwiddie will have similar success around LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
“Catch-and-shoots, re-drives. The attention that LeBron and AD draw, anywhere between two, two-and-a-half, four players at a time surrounding those guys trying to keep them out of the paint and off the rim. He’s gonna have more than his fair share of open shots.”
Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell obviously start in the backcourt alongside the Lakers’ two stars, but Ham likes the potential of playing Dinwiddie with them in three-guard lineups.
“All three of those guys can play together. His size, he can guard bigger wings. So if we have to finish a game with those three, he’s definitely more than capable of doing that,” Ham said. “We will look at some lineups with three of those guys with Bron and AD. But I think he complements them well. He can defend, he can pass, he can dribble, he can shoot.”
Thankfully, the Lakers were given some days off, allowing for the 30-year-old to get up to speed, which Ham says has been a positive experience so far.
“We’ve spent a great day together, he signed yesterday officially and so we were up here, he and I sat down and had a film session together. Wrote out a lot of our terminology on both sides of the ball on the board. He did a great individual workout with our coach J.D. Dubois. So again, you’re not gonna learn everything overnight. There’s basic tenants to what we do that it will make it easier or be a smooth transition for him.”
It’ll be intriguing to see how Dinwiddie flourishes with the Lakers, potentially making up for the loss of some key players that have been out like Gabe Vincent.
Spencer Dinwiddie contract details with Lakers
After clearing waivers, it did not take long for Dinwiddie to sign with the Lakers. His contract with L.A. was structured around leftover mid-level exception money, which is $1.5 million.
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