Brooklyn Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie To Allow Fans To Choose His Next Team If They Meet Bitcoin Goal
Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie — who was in the midst of a career year with his club before the NBA suspended play due to COVID-19 in March — is offering fans a radical and unprecedented proposition. Provided they’re able to raise the requisite amount of money via a crowdfunding campaign he’s established, Dinwiddie has stated that he’ll allow fans to choose the next NBA team he signs with.
Dinwiddie announced the proposition and accompanying GoFundMe page via Twitter on Friday. Meanwhile, Shams Charania of The Athletic shared a statement from Dinwiddie about the campaign via Twitter.
Per Charania, Dinwiddie expressed that while a player’s decision to change teams can be influenced by things like endorsements, he considers his fans as being his “biggest endorsers.” Thus, he’s affording them the opportunity to potentially choose his next stop in the league.
“Shoe companies and endorsers influence team decisions all the time. My/our biggest endorsers will always be the fans, so I want to have some fun with this while we’re all under quarantine. I hope no owners/team personnel participate so there’s no impropriety on this one of a kind endorsement deal.”
As laid out on the GoFundMe page, the campaign’s funding goal has been set at 2625.8 bitcoin, which equates to approximately $24.6 million. If that goal is reached, Dinwiddie has pledged to sign a one-year deal with the team determined by his fans.
The campaign, which was officially launched on May 15, is off to a slow start, however. As of this writing, there have been only 87 donors contributing a grand total of $944.
Nevertheless, if the fundraiser fails to meet its mark, Dinwiddie won’t simply pocket the funds that were raised. Instead, he’ll be donating 100 percent of the money to charity.
As it stands, Dinwiddie is under contract with Brooklyn through next season. He has a $12.3 million player option for the 2021-22 season, which would make next summer the earliest he can sign with another team.
Although it appears unlikely that he’ll get his $24.6 million from fans, Dinwiddie is undoubtedly in-line for a substantial pay raise when he eventually does hit free agency. In 64 games this season, the former Colorado star is averaging nearly 21 points, seven assists and four rebounds per contest.
Given his occasionally awkward fit next to Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, basketball fans and pundits alike have pondered about the possibility of Dinwiddie getting moved by the Nets before his deal is up. As reported by The Inquisitr, Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report mentioned him as part of a hypothetical trade package to acquire Joel Embiid from the Philadelphia 76ers.
