The Raptors don’t intend to keep veteran guard Spencer Dinwiddie on their roster after acquiring him from Brooklyn. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Toronto will waive Dinwiddie before he plays in a game for Toronto.
Dinwiddie is on an expiring contract and has a $1.5M bonus in his contract if he appears in 50 games. He’s at 48 games now, so he would’ve locked that bonus in with two more appearances and the Raptors would prefer not to be on the hook for that money since the point guard isn’t in their future plans.
The deal that sent Dennis Schröder and Thaddeus Young was about creating more cap flexibility for the 2024 offseason by moving off of Schröder’s multiyear deal.
It has been a down year so far for Dinwiddie, who averaged just 12.6 points per game on .391/.320/.781 in 48 games (all starts) for Brooklyn while logging 30.7 minutes per night. Those shooting percentages are well below his career rates and the scoring average is his lowest in a healthy season since he averaged 12.6 PPG in 2017/18.
Still, he’s likely to generate plenty of interest on the buyout market, with the Lakers among the teams that might be a fit. Because Dinwiddie’s base salary of $18.9M exceeds the mid-level exception, he’ll be ineligible to sign with the Celtics, Nuggets, Warriors, Clippers, Heat, Bucks and Suns, whose team salaries are above the tax apron. He also won’t be permitted to rejoin the Nets.
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