Spencer Dinwiddie return from injury ‘probably very unlikely’ this season, says Steve Nash

Will we see Spencer Dinwiddie in Brooklyn again this season? Nets head coach Steve Nash called Dinwiddie’s odds “unlikely,” but also said: “Who knows? Stranger things have happened.”

Dinwiddie suffered a partial ACL tear three games into the regular season. He has been out indefinitely since, rehabbing at Phenom Sports Performance in Los Angeles.

He has also been posting his rehab progress on Instagram. It’s been 18 weeks since Dinwiddie’s Dec. 27 injury in Charlotte against the Hornets, and exactly four months since he underwent successful surgery to repair his right knee.

“I think it’s been 17 weeks,” Dinwiddie wrote in a caption of his latest progress video on Tuesday. “What’s the fastest anybody ever returned to Bball? Lol”

In Dinwiddie’s latest post, he is doing jump squats while simultaneously catching a medicine ball, lunging with a kettlebell and other dynamic and static exercises that appear to build strength in his knees. He has been optimistic of his odds on returning to play for the Nets’ hopeful championship run since the day after his injury.

“Will I miss the road to a Brooklyn Nets 2021 championship?” he wrote on Instagram at the time. “As we’ve seen before. Crazier things have happened.”

Here’s the craziest thing that’s happened in recent memory: a pandemic that forced the NBA into a hiatus, then a truncated, 72-game regular season. Time is running out for Dinwiddie to make a realistic return to a Nets team in the thick of its playoff push. The Nets’ final regular season game is May 16 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The playoffs begin on May 22.

Meanwhile has yet to rejoin and travel with the team, and there is no clear date on when he will do so. He has yet to practice with the team, which also means his level of high-intensity pickup basketball since the ACL injury has been limited, though he has posted a video shooting mid-range jump shots.

Dinwiddie would need to complete his rehab, then ramp up ― or build his conditioning level to handle the rigors of full-speed NBA basketball again — re-integrate into a new role behind Kyrie Irving and James Harden (and maybe even Mike James, who has signed a second 10-day contract), and also learn again to trust the same knee that failed him in the past.

With the playoffs around the corner, is that realistic?

“I don’t think so. We haven’t seen him since the turn of the year almost. It’s very difficult to, one, expose him to full NBA playoff basketball with the type of injury he has. We want to look out of his long term health first and foremost,” Nash said. “And second of all, adapting back to the team environment. All those things together, it seems like it’s probably very unlikely. But who knows? Stranger things have happened.”

One thing’s certain: If Dinwiddie returns, and does so both safely and effectively, good luck slowing down a Nets team with three dynamic guards capable of getting a bucket. Dinwiddie’s road to recovery has been long, general manager Sean Marks made it clear he would not rule out his combo guard’s return.

“I would never bet against Spencer Dinwiddie,” Marks said on April 16. “I think the primary concern for Spencer is his long-term health, not do anything that’s detrimental to his career or his career longevity. So if there’s an opportunity for him to come back and play during this playoffs we’ll have to evaluate at that time.”