With the Nets looking to upgrade their cadre of point guards, they waived undrafted rookie Yogi Ferrell on Thursday and added free agent Spencer Dinwiddie.
The 6-foot-6 Dinwiddie had been excelling in the D-League for the Windy City Bulls, and had 17 points and 11 assists opening night against the Long Island Nets. The contract is a partially guaranteed three-year deal, according to Yahoo.
In nine games this season, Dinwiddie averaged 19.4 points, 8.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds in 37.4 minutes. He’s fourth in the D-League in assists, and shot .415 from 3-point range and added 2.2 steals a game.
Though Ferrell — a 6-foot point guard who was Indiana’s all-time assist leader — actually got a $100,000 guarantee when he was signed as an undrafted free agent, he was the last cut in camp. The Nets brought him back when Jeremy Lin and Isaiah Whitehead both got hurt and Greivis Vasquez was bought out.
But now the Nets have waived Ferrell to make room for Dinwiddie, who has higher physical upside. He starred for three seasons at Colorado, dropping in the 2014 draft because of a torn ACL. He went 38th overall to Detroit, playing in 46 NBA games over two seasons and averaging 4.4 points and 2.7 assists in 13.3 minutes per game before being traded to the Bulls this past offseason.
Dinwiddie logged 28 D-League appearances between the Grand Rapids Drive (Detroit) and Windy City (Chicago) over the past three seasons, averaging 15.8 points and 6.5 assists. He torched the Long Island Nets last month for 25 points and a dozen assists.
The Nets are carrying nearly $10.9 million in dead money, almost all of it tied up in point guards: Vazquez (roughly $4 million), Deron Williams ($5.475 million), and Jarrett Jack ($500,000). They’ve suffered greatly since Lin’s injury — 2-3 with him but 4-9 without him — and losing Vasquez hurt almost as much.
Asked this week if he was looking to add a point guard, general manager Sean Marks replied, “I’d hate to limit us to just a position. I’ve never put something like that on it. We’ll look at every position, to be honest. We’ll look wherever it takes us to get those right pieces not only for this year, but pieces that potentially fit going down the road. I couldn’t tell you what position.”