Spencer Dinwiddie Adapting To Unfamiliar Defense-First Role With Lakers

After standing pat at the NBA trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers immediately looked to the buyout market to upgrade their roster. Although there weren’t many potential game-changing players to choose from, the team decided to bring in Los Angeles native Spencer Dinwiddie to give the squad another proven veteran scorer off the bench.

Unfortunately for Dinwiddie, the transition to a bench role in his hometown has been difficult. He’s struggled to find his place on this team since joining about a month ago. Dinwiddie has been playing a lot of minutes, at 24.8 per game, but he hasn’t made much of an impact on the basketball court.

However, Dinwiddie did make a considerable impact in the win over the Milwaukee Bucks recently, with the 30-year-old coming up with the game-clinching block on superstar guard Damian Lillard as time expired.

After the game, Dinwiddie spoke with Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet about his role on the team and how he’s had to adapt to a different style of play:

“Just understanding the team that I’m coming to,” Dinwiddie said. “We already had a set in stone team, I wasn’t traded… I ain’t gonna lie, scoring the ball is fun, high usage offense is fun, but you got to be able to adapt. We’re trying to win a championship so I got to play the role that I’m given.”

Although Dinwiddie is sorely lacking in the offensive department, averaging 5.4 points per game since signing with the Lakers, he clearly has the right mentality moving forward. He’s willing to sacrifice being that kind of scorer to give this team the best chance to be a title contender this season.

With Dinwiddie willing to embrace the role he’s been given and D’Angelo Russell playing out of his mind lately, the Lakers may still have a chance to jump to the No. 6 spot in the Western Conference. Obviously, the injuries of LeBron James (ankle) and Anthony Davis (shoulder) are a concern moving forward, but the role players are stepping up, with Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves also making big plays as of late, which bodes well for this team’s chances of making a run late in the 2023-24 campaign.

Game-winning block meant ‘everything’ to Spencer Dinwiddie

After D’Angelo Russell gave the Lakers the lead late in the fourth quarterback against Giannis Antetounmpo and company, Los Angeles had to put it together on defense for one last possession, with everyone in the building knowing the basketball would be in the hands of Damian Lillard.

With all eyes on Lillard, an unlikely hero emerged on defense. Lakers newcomer Spencer Dinwiddie got the game-winning block on Lillard as time expired, a moment that admittedly meant everything to the Los Angeles native.

“It’s everything. I’m not going to lie to you. Having been a high-usage offensive guy my entire career, I mean, even when I was a kid, stuff like that, I kind of dreamed of those moments in terms of hitting the shot, not necessarily getting the block. But it feels pretty much just as sweet. It’s fun to step into a new role with my childhood team and be productive in a sense of helping us get wins. So that isn’t lost on me and it’s something that I’m definitely going to cherish the rest of my life,” Dinwiddie said.