The official announcement! Officially signed! Give up 4 million, what is he trying to do?

Dinwiddie, officially in the lake.

On February 11, Beijing time, Shams reported that free agent Spencer Dinwiddie planned to sign with the Lakers, and shortly thereafter, the Lakers officially announced that Dinwiddie officially joined the Lakers.

According to the report, Dinwiddie signed a contract with the Lakers that is $1.5 million above the base salary, and the signing of that contract will increase the Lakers' luxury tax by $7 million this season.

There are two things to say here:

1. The Lakers could have given up a player before the trade deadline to avoid taxes, which would have saved them $15 million in spending, but instead of doing so, they kept the roster and increased investment, indicating that the goal is very clear, even if the current record is not particularly good;

2. The Lakers' main rival, the Mavericks, can offer Dinwiddie a $5.3 million contract, while the Lakers can only offer a maximum of $1.5 million in contract, in other words, Dinwiddie gave up nearly $4 million.

So, why is Dinwiddie willing to give up nearly $4 million to come to the Lakers?

On the one hand, Dinwiddie is a Los Angeles native, playing for the Lakers is equivalent to playing for his hometown team, not to mention that the Lakers also have James, and the attention is directly full, as long as he plays a few highlights, he can sign a bigger contract in the summer.

On the other hand, the Mavericks don't have many opportunities for Dinwiddie, they already have Doncic, Irving's dual backcourt, and players like Hardaway who have similar functions to Dinwiddie, and Exum can also carry the ball.

On the other hand, joining the Lakers, the Lakers really need Dinwiddie now, and Dinwiddie can really bring something.

Some people will probably say, what other guards do the Lakers need? Don't say it, they really need it, the most direct thing, the Lakers are now in an injury crisis, several key players can't play, and Dinwiddie can solve the urgent need.

And looking at the whole season, what the Lakers have been lacking is a backup point guard or two-way guard, a position that was originally Vincent's, but Vincent was injured and couldn't play.

For this reason, Ham also put Russell on the bench for a time, and in the end it turned out that Russell was still a good starter, and his form quickly rebounded after returning to the starter, and the rumors of replacing Murray that were full of flying sky did not come to fruition in the end;

After Ham put all the team's top five scorers in the starting lineup, the Lakers' bench was even more obviously less firepower, taking the last game against the Pelicans as an example, the starting five were all 20+, but none of their benches scored in double figures, and only added up to 1 assist.

Look at Dinwiddie again, his strength is really good.

Although he had a low-light season with the Nets this year, he averaged only 12.6 points per game, and his three-point shooting percentage was only 39.1%/32.0%/78.1%, respectively, and his true shooting percentage was 53.0%.

However, Dinwiddie was suspected of not working with the Nets, and in the 14 games that he was bought out by trade, he averaged only 7.7 shots per game, and the offense was completely unaggressive.

ESPN's Zach Lowe said of him: "Dinwiddie is just a point guard in name only, he is half-present on the court, he has 14 games per 100 possessions, the second lowest in his career, and his offense from the basket is almost the worst of his career, and it looks as if he is on a strike of sorts." ”

The real Dinwiddie, who is also the most suitable Dinwiddie for the Lakers, should be compared to the Mavericks, when he played for the Mavericks in the two "half seasons", his performance:

- In the 2021-22 season, he averaged 15.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in 23 games (after the trade deadline), shooting 49.8% from the field, 40.4% from three-point range, and 62.4% from the field

- In the 2022-23 season, in 53 games (before the trade deadline), he averaged 17.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game, shooting 45.5% from the field, 40.5% from three-point range, and 59.9% from the field

Dinwiddie is a famous two-way guard, can score, can pass (6.0 assists and 1.3 turnovers per game this season), can play as a starter, can also go off the bench, his shooting ability is very good, during the Mavericks period of the big open three-point a total of 59 of 129, shooting 45.7%, just look at this, can definitely help the Lakers.

James was very accurate about him: "[Dinwiddie] brings playmaking skills, a ball handler, a shooting opportunity, a veteran, and any time you can bring in a veteran who can help the team." ”

In the 2022 playoffs, in the three games without Doncic, he scored 22 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists, 17 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, 20 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals, and he also scored 30 points (11 of 15) in the seven-game game against the Suns.

Such a player, if it was in the offseason, would probably be tens of millions of annual salaries (18 million salaries before being cut this season), but now, the Lakers only used 1.5 million to get his half-year right to use it;

To sum up: this is a low-risk, potentially high-reward signing, and you can get a starting guard from a weak team at a low price, and Pelinka's operation is really good (and the attraction of the Lakers' hometown + market).

However, in the end, I have to say, don't have too many unrealistic expectations for Dinwiddie, the Lakers will not have a grade improvement in signing him, in fact, the Lakers' current lineup is really not bad, it seems to have everything, the biggest problem may be in cephalosporin?