Spencer Dinwiddie is 'excited' to be a member of the Hornets

LaMelo Ball has played less than 50 games in all of his last three seasons in the NBA.

With this, the Charlotte Hornets have seen a rotation of backup guards come in and receive starts. While some were serviceable, many were two-ways or end-of-bench guys.

President of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson saw enough and made it a goal in his second offseason as the head of the Hornets front office to bring in veteran backups that can come in if Ball goes down and give productive minutes.

Tre Mann, who filled in for Ball during the 2023-24 season, missed nearly all of last season with a back injury. A month before free agency started, Shams Charania of ESPN announced that Mann is fully healthy, and the Hornets ended up giving him a three-year deal.

Before that, the team traded Jusuf Nurkic to the Utah Jazz for Collin Sexton, a six-foot-six-inch guard who has averaged around 18 points on around 40% from deep over the last two seasons with the Jazz.

While Sexton is projected to slot in at the starting guard position alongside Ball, if LaMelo were to be injured, he or Tre Mann could easily take on lead ball-handler duties.

Now, in that case, the Hornets' backup guards turn into Nick Smith Jr. and KJ Simpson.

While both have shown flashes of being role players in the league, they are not players that you want receiving minutes on a team looking to win. So, Peterson went guard hunting again.

Entering his 21st year, there were rumors that Chris Paul would make his return to his home state of North Carolina and to the team (identity, not actual franchise) he started his career with in the Hornets.

A few weeks later, Marc Stein of the Stein Line reported Paul was not interested in playing in Charlotte. The guard went on to return to where his family lives, re-joining the Los Angeles Clippers for what will likely be his final NBA season.

In the days after free agency began, I started to hear rumors from multiple sources that there was a free agent guard who had interest in signing with the Hornets.

The Hornets went on to sign Spencer Dinwiddie, an eleven-year NBA veteran who's played alongside NBA stars such as LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant*, Kyrie Irving, and Anthony Davis.

He averaged 11 points a game across 79 games last season with the Dallas Mavericks, becoming a full-time starter after Kyrie Irving went down with an ACL tear.

Fans are not the only ones excited for Dinwiddie to be a Hornet, as according to sources close to the guard he's "excited" to be playing in Charlotte.

After Taj Gibson's comments about the city being a "gold mine", it's starting to seem like players across the league have begun to notice.

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