Dinwiddie injury increases likelihood of Boston Celtics-Harden trade

The Boston Celtics may have a better chance of landing James Harden due to the season-ending injury to Spencer Dinwiddie.

No one benefits from Spencer Dinwiddie tearing his ACL and being unable to play for the rest of the 2020-21 NBA season. The Boston Celtics may be able to have an easier road to landing superstar James Harden now, but again, Dinwiddie’s injury doesn’t benefit a single soul.

The Brooklyn Nets looked like world-beaters in their first two games, including a Christmas day victory over the Cs. Kyrie Irving dominated in his homecoming, and Kevin Durant was the perfect supplemental scorer to Irving’s on-court Wizardry.

As Nothin’ But Nets’ Jerry Trotta pointed out, Dinwiddie was growing into his role as a tertiary facilitator in the Brooklyn offense, but there was excitement from fans about what he can do with an expanded opportunity, and now fans must wait to see what Brooklyn can do as a whole (though not as long as they could have):

"Had Dinwiddie suffered other ligament damage, his recovery timetable likely would have been pushed back another couple of months. With that being said, however, the report indicates that the former second-round pick is still expected to miss the remainder of the season.If that ends up being the case, it will be a devastating blow for the Nets. After all, Dinwiddie surprisingly cracked the starting rotation out of preseason camp after he was largely expected to be the first or second man off the bench.He was admittedly struggling to find a groove in Brooklyn’s rejuvenated rotation, averaging just 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists on 37.5% shooting, including 28.6% on threes, over the first three contests. Despite those struggles, fans were (given his track record) expecting him to emerge once he adjusted to his new limited role."

Now, there are legitimate questions as to whether or not the Nets are even the favorites in the Eastern Conference. They didn’t look like the east’s top team against the Charlotte Hornets, and they move forward without their third 20-point-per-game scorer for the remainder of the campaign.

Those questions can no longer be answered by a James Harden trade. Dinwiddie was one of the primary assets being bandied about in potential Harden packages, and without his salary, a deal is unlikely to get done.

The Celtics were already considered to have one of the best trade packages available, and Dinwiddie’s ACL tear only furthers that notion.