Spencer Dinwiddie returned to Capital One Arena for the first time since being traded to the Dallas Mavericks in February. His return to the nation’s capital was ruined by by his former teammates, as the Washington Wizards routed the Mavericks 135-103.
One former teammate that has been at the heart of Dinwiddie’s departure is Wizards guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. It was Caldwell-Pope who pointed to “egos” being a factor to the locker room dissension that ultimately led to Dinwiddie and others being traded.
Friday, Caldwell-Pope was motivated to beat Dinwiddie and the Mavericks, He rallied his Wizards teammates before the game. Caldwell-Pope then proceeded to score a season-high 35 points on 13-of-19 shooting while making six three-pointers.
Dinwiddie scored eight points on 2-of-6 shooting. Luka Doncic had a game-high 36 points for Dallas in a losing effort.
Following the loss, Dinwiddie brushed off the defeat by throwing a parting shot in the process.
“I said what I said about the organization,” Dinwiddie said per Hoop District. “I know that they’ve since made comments about their own locker room that kind of validated what I’ve said about the situation. … Let them go to the offseason and let us go to the playoffs.”
The Mavericks (48-30) are in fourth-place in the Western Conference standings and already clinched a playoff berth. Meanwhile, the Wizards (33-43) were eliminated from playoff contention in the Eastern Conference.
Spencer Dinwiddie signed a three-year, $54.3 million deal with the Washington Wizards this past summer. Three months into his first season he was unceremoniously booted from the team.
After reports of him rubbing his teammates the wrong way, the Wizards traded him and Davis Bertans to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis. While Dinwiddie has made the most of the change of scenery, he admitted he was hurt after being “kicked out the door” by Washington.
“When the role changed and they wanted me to pass more — they felt like i Was scoring a lot — I did that,” Dinwiddie said last month of the Wizards. “I took my foot off the gas scoring-wise because that’s what they felt — the team needed to get [Kyle Kuzma] and [Caldwell-Pope] and those guys shots. I said, ‘Look I already got paid. This is about y’all trying to get shots that y’all need, whatever.”
Judging from the barbs after Friday’s game there is clearly still tension, particularly between Dinwiddie and KCP. In the process, Dinwiddie may no longer been endearing to the Wizards fans.
