Getty Spencer Dinwiddie #26 of the Brooklyn Nets.
For those who may be tardy to the party, the long-standing beef between Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie and Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma was reignited when the Nets star called out Kuzma during an appearance on FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back” with Michelle Beadle. In response, Kuzma went on an insult-laced Twitter rant that went viral.
When asked about the exchange with his former teammate, Dinwiddie said that Kuzma’s response had “a lot of contradictions” but, all in all, he is ready to focus on the Nets’ first-round matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers.
“The funny part about it is there were a lot of contradictions. He resorted to name-calling: ‘Dins–ttie, things like that, which I haven’t heard since I was probably about 10 years old. Things of that nature. I think at the end of the day, the biggest piece here was it’s like a theory from 8-Mile, the way Eminem approached the final battle: If you approach it with truth, what do you have to hide,” Dinwiddie said to reporters on April 13 via Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News.
“There’s nothing there, right? So that’s probably the last time I’ll address that because I want to focus on Philly, the team, and what we’re doing. But at the end of the day, I spoke the truth and got rebutted with 10-year-old insults.”
Spencer Dinwiddie Compares Kyle Kuzma to Rick Fox
One of the talking points of Kuzma’s rant was about Dinwiddie’s journeyman career in the NBA.
“What in the world have you won in this league? Lol, you’ve been bounced around like a basketball, my boy,” he wrote in response to Dinwiddie.
2.) what in the world have you won in this league? Lol you’ve been bounced around like a basketball my boy.😭😭😭
In response to that particular point, Dinwiddie noted that just because he has taken a “unique” path does not mean his career accomplishments hold any less value. He also alluded to how “blessed” some players are to be a part of championship teams, which seemingly was aimed at Kuzma’s role on the 2020 Lakers championship squad.
“If we were gonna talk about my career and things that I’ve done that is unique and possibly different: I led a team to the playoffs when their max players were hurt back in 2020 averaging over 20 a game. So won a lot of games there. I’ve been to the Western Conference Finals with Luka Doncic and the Mavs. Been to the playoffs every year for the last five or six years,” Dinwiddie added.
“And then on top of that, I would say, some people are blessed to be in situations. We don’t get mad at Rick Fox for winning a championship with Kobe and Shaq. Like some people are blessed and that’s great, but we can’t act like Rick Fox led them to a championship.”
Doc Rivers Sounds off on Upcoming Series With Nets
After trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving at the deadline, there were doubts about the Nets making it to the playoffs this year. Especially because much of their recoupment from the trades was future first-round draft picks. Despite their roster being devoid of an All-Star, the Nets have made it to the postseason without even having to participate in the play-in tournament.
The Nets will face a Sixers team in the first round with a surplus of star power with James Harden and MVP candidate Joel Embiid. But even with his team having the upper hand talent-wise, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers knows his team can’t take their foot off the gas against this Nets squad.
“They say you have to have stars to win a championship. They don’t say you have to have stars to win a series. There’s a big difference,” Rivers said of the upcoming playoff matchup via NetsDaily.
“You have to be ready. The playoffs are what makes you a star. There are probably three or four guys who when this whole season is over are gonna be stars that we don’t even know yet. Let’s hope we don’t create them.”