Rate The Trade: Spencer Dinwiddie to The Clippers

Could the LA Clippers make a deal for Washington Wizards guard Spencer Dinwiddie?

Steven Ryan | Credit: Getty Images

Few people know what the LA Clippers plan on doing at this year's trade deadline; however, speculation has run wild. For what now feels like a yearly trend, the current rumors indicate the Clippers are in pursuit of a point guard. In a recent article from The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor, the Clippers' desire to pair current starting point guard Reggie Jackson with a more natural playmaker, seems to be the organization's top priority.

O'Connor listed several potentially available point guards that the Clippers may target, with one being Washington Wizards guard Spencer Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie is in the first year of his 3-year / $54M contract, and the fit has not gone well for him or the Wizards. Recent reports indicate that certain Washington Wizards players are not fond of Dinwiddie, and regardless of how his teammates may feel, there is no doubt that he has not played well this season.

Averaging just 13 PPG on 38% from the field and 31% from deep, Dinwiddie's field goal percentage is the 5th-worst mark in the entire NBA amongst all players who have attempted at least 450 shots. While field goal percentage is an imperfect stat, specifically for players with high three-point volumes, this development is concerning for a player like Dinwiddie who has never been reliant on his outside shot. Dinwiddie is currently shooting just 38.3% from inside the painted area, but outside of the restricted area, indicating that his paint-game has struggled as well.

The pairing of Bradley Beal and Spencer Dinwiddie has been disastrous as well, with Washington being 3.9 points per 100 possessions better when Beal is on the floor without Dinwiddie, as opposed to when the two are out there together. While the Dinwiddie era in Washington is still young, all signs point to it being a short one.

Because of all the factors previously mentioned, could the LA Clippers snag a guy for cheap who was a 20 PPG scorer just two seasons ago? If possible, it could be a worthy gamble; however, if the price exceeds any more than what the Clippers would likely be shedding at the deadline anyways, the organization may want to go in a different direction.

With Dinwiddie making $17.1M this season, a straight swap of Eric Bledsoe for Spencer Dinwiddie works salary-wise. This would be an all-time low price for the Clippers to pay for a player who performed the way Dinwiddie did in Brooklyn; however, considering the current circumstances in Washington, there could be some appeal there for the Wizards. Depending on how motivated Washington is to get off of Dinwiddie's deal, swapping him for Bledsoe would get them off the hook for Dinwiddie's near $40M price tag over the next two seasons, in exchange for the $3.9M that Bledsoe is owed next season.

The Clippers could hypothetically attach one of the few future draft picks they have, if Washington were reluctant to get essentially zero value back for Dinwiddie; however, the logistics of such a deal are dependent on just how motivated the Wizards are to move on from the Dinwiddie era. If Washington still believes, even with Dinwiddie's current performance, that his value exceeds a mere salary dump, then one of the Clippers' rookies could be asked for in a potential deal. In this event, the justification for the Clippers becomes more difficult.

A trade for Dinwiddie would certainly be a gamble. Even at his best, the fit alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George is questionable. Dinwiddie has never been a good shooter, peaking at 33.5% from deep in 2019, so even if he were to return to his Brooklyn form, he is not exactly the ideal prototype next to Kawhi and PG. As history has shown, a team's best players have the ball in their hands when it matters most. Both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have taken leaps forward as playmakers since coming to the Clippers, which makes the concept of a true playmaker alongside them more appealing in theory than in application.

The Clippers had their most success during the 2021 playoffs when they surrounded their star talent with elite floor-spacing. Rather than taking the ball out of Kawhi and PG's hands in favor of a true playmaker, like the Clippers attempted to do with Rajon Rondo, allowing those two to dictate the offense with the spacing provided by players like Luke Kennard, Nicolas Batum, and Marcus Morris, has proven to be the more successful blueprint.

With Dinwiddie, his history as a capable scorer makes him a different conversation than guys like Rondo; however, his current inability to shoot from anywhere, combined with his massive contract, makes it a tough sell for the Clippers. Again, if the price is as low as some have indicted it may be, then it may be worth the gamble; however, from strictly a basketball standpoint, the fit is questionable at best.