How Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith fit in at the Nets

The Nets’ marriage to Kyrie Irving is over.

They threw him on the sidewalk and came back with their ex.

Brooklyn traded Irving to Dallas on Sunday for a package centered on Spencer Dinwiddie, a longtime Nets fan favorite. They also got Dorian Finney-Smith and draft picks, while creating trade exceptions.

“When @ShamsCharania says it’s time to go you pack your bags. Also Elijah said he wants to go home,” Dinwiddie tweetedadding emojis of a smiling face and hands in grateful prayer.

Elijah is his son, born at the end of Dinwiddie’s second season in Brooklyn. He spent five years with the Nets, arriving in 2016 with Joe Harris and they became two player development success stories.

Dinwiddie emerged as a player and even helped recruit Irving. But with injuries limiting the latter to just 20 games in 2019-20, Dinwiddie averaged 20.6 career points that season.

It basically turned out to be his last in Brooklyn — so far.

Dinwiddie’s unfortunate torn ACL just three games into 2020-21 indirectly led to the Nets chasing the big names, trading for James Harden. Dinwiddie was traded to Washington in a huge five-team trade and spent the last season-and-a-half in Dallas as Luka Doncic’s running mate.

Currently, Dinwiddie is averaging 17.7 points and 5.3 assists in a borderline All-star campaign. His shooting spreads are a solid .455 / .405 / .821, and now the 6-foot-6 guard returns to the Nets’ starting backcourt alongside currently injured Ben Simmons to give them a pair of long-arm disruptors.

Dinwiddie earns $20.2 million this season and $21.0 million next year.

Dorian Finney-Smith is a 6-foot-7, 220-pound player who is averaging 9.1 points, 4.76 rebounds and can play any forward. He has spent his entire career in Dallas and is in the first season of a four-year, $55 million contract. He can be moved again, but only on a one-to-one deal.

Finney-Smith has a 15% trade kicker, according to former Nets assistant general manager Bobby Marks, now an ESPN Insider.

The Nets, who have exhausted draft assets in this deal for Harden, will receive an unprotected 2029 first-round selection and 2027 and 2029 second-rounders. They will also create trade exceptions of $5 million and $1.8 million. dollars, as well as $28 million in luxury tax savings.

It was a pretty solid pivot from Nets general manager Sean Marks given that the Nets were going to exceed the salary cap even if Irving left this summer in free agency, as he had pledged to do. They would have had no way to replace him, but they have now picked up a starter they know well and another useful rotation player as well as picks.

The Nets host the Clippers on Monday, but with Irving not expected to get physical until that day in Dallas according to ESPN, Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith could struggle to make their debuts before Tuesday against Phoenix.