FEELING RIGHT AT HOME 

Mavericks coach Jason Kidd relishes the formidable role veteran shooting guard Spencer Dinwiddie played for a Dallas team that enjoyed an unprecedented playoff run last season.

So much so that the Mavs second-year coach admittedly doesn’t expect Dinwiddie to display an increased capacity for a team that, once again, figures to be a tough out come postseason.

“I don’t want to keep answering the same questions about Dinwiddie,” said Kidd, whose Mavs welcome the Orlando Magic in their preseason home opener Friday at 7:30 p.m. CST in the American Airlines Center. “But if I have to, I will. I just told him to stick to what he’s been doing, and that’s being a leader on the floor for us. He played a significant role during our playoff run.”

Indeed, he did.

And what a masterful showing it was by Dinwiddie, who seems to have found a home in Dallas after previous stints with three other NBA franchises.

Traded last season near the All-Star break from Washington to Dallas along with Dāvis Bertāns in exchange for Kristaps Porziņģis and a protected 2022 second-round pick, Dinwiddie turned in an impressive showing during the pivotal second half of the season for a Mavs team that advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

NEXT MAN UP 

In a career-best 18 playoff appearances, the nine-year veteran started three games, averaging 14.2 points, his second most in the postseason (he averaged 14.6 points in five postseason games for Brooklyn in 2019).

Even before the Dallas’ surprise postseason run, Dinwiddie wasted little time complementing the incredible play of Mavs star Luka Dončić, the team’s leading scorer, whom in a recent poll of NBA coaches, scouts, and executives, was among the top picks to win this year’s league MVP award.

A former University of Colorado standout, Dinwiddie started seven of 23 regular season outings for Dallas, averaging 15.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 3.9 steals while averaging 28.3 minutes.

“I just told him to stick to what he’s been doing, and that’s being a leader on the floor for us. He played a significant role during our playoff run.” — Mavs coach Jason Kidd on veteran guard Spencer Dinwiddie’s resurgence

Heading into the 2022-23 campaign, the 29-year-old Dinwiddie figures to pick up where he left off after a memorable season in which he finished as the team’s third-leading scorer behind Dončić and the departed Jalen Brunson, who signed a multi-year deal with the New York Knicks in the offseason.

During the Mavs’ third training camp session last week, Kidd said besides Dinwiddie, he’s counting on fellow guards Reggie Bullock (8.6 ppg), Josh Green (4.8 ppg), Tim Hardaway Jr. (14.2 ppg), and Dorian Finney-Smith (11.0 ppg in a team-high 80 starts) to help fill the void left by Brunson, whose 16.3 points per game were second-best on the team.

To his credit, Dinwiddie proved to be the missing piece for a Mavs team whose remarkable postseason run was highlighted by a lopsided Game 7 upset of top-seeded Phoenix after dropping the series’ opening two games.

In the decisive seventh game against the Suns, Dinwiddie scored a career playoff high of 30 points on 11-of-15 shooting in 25-plus minutes.

Of his 18 postseason outings since joining the Mavs, Dinwiddie manufactured double digits in points 14 times, including three consecutive times in each of Dallas’ three best-of-7 playoff series.

Selected with the 38th overall pick by the Detroit Pistons in the 2014 NBA Draft, Dinwiddie spent five seasons in Brooklyn from 2016-2021 and a half-year stint in Washington before joining Dallas just before the All-Star break last year.

Andre Johnson is the award-winning Founder/Publisher & Editor In Chief of Making Headline News. A 2000 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Journalism and a former reporter of sports for the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, Johnson has covered the National Basketball Association since 2010. To reach Johnson, call him at 901-690-6587 or send email to [email protected]. Also, follow him on Twitter @AJ_Journalist.