Spencer Dinwiddie vs. Kyle Kuzma beef timeline

Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie took what he said will be his last shot at his ex-teammate, Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma on Thursday, calling the former Lakers forward “blessed” to be part of a LeBron James’ led 2020 championship team.

Not the player who led the team to a title.

“Some people are blessed to be in situations,” Dinwiddie said after Nets practice at the HSS Training Facility on Thursday. “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. Like let’s not do that.”

Here’s a timeline of how Dinwiddie and Kuzma found themselves in an unlikely, but spicy social media feud.

JAN 24: THE FIRST JAB

Dinwiddie negotiated a three-year, $60M sign-and-trade to the Wizards in the summer of 2021. Midway through the season, the Wizards traded him to the Dallas Mavericks in a deal for Kristaps Porzingis.

But before his midseason trade to the Nets, Dinwiddie’s Mavericks suffered a 127-126 Jan. 24 loss to Kuzma’s Wizards in what was considered one of their worst losses of the early season.

After the game, Dinwiddie said the loss was disappointing because the Wizards players are “over there trying to get paid; they’re not over there trying to play winning basketball.”

“If you come in here and get in a shootout with, you know, the Warriors last year, right, or the Celtics this year or something like that, it’s a little bit different tone, right? Like, not exactly stalwarts over there,” Dinwiddie said postgame.”They’re not playing for nothing for real. They’re just coming out here firing. Like they’ve got people coming off the bench just firing. Cause at the end of the day, it’s a showcase. They’re over there trying to get paid. They’re not trying to play winning basketball. You know what I’m saying? So for a team that has real aspirations and has an MVP and went to the conference finals last year, we have to be better to a man.”

Kuzma responded on Twitter to a tweet of Dinwiddie’s quote.

“The funny thing is they don’t play winning basketball,” he wrote, with laughing, peace sign, waving away and clown emojis.

APRIL 12: “INSECURITY IS LOUD”

Dinwiddie made an appearance on FanDuelTV and was asked directly about Kuzma’s tweet.

“Didn’t I just say I was petty?” he said to begin his answer.

Dinwiddie said his agent told him not to respond to Kuzma’s tweet.

“My agent told me to stand down, that we had bigger fish to fry, things to do, get to the playoffs, etc.,” he said. “Now I’m not in that environment. I’m in the playoffs, he’s [Kuzma’s] not.”

Dinwiddie then lit into Kuzma, saying his only motivation was earning a max contract — not winning basketball, an observation Dinwiddie said he made as his teammate for a season in D.C.

“To address a socialite, there are a lot of guys in the NBA that really pour their heart and soul into basketball, are willing to do whatever it takes to win. There are a lot of guys that have different things that drive them and motivate them,” he said. “I think if we look at him and the way he approaches life, fame, all that stuff, then we can see that his priorities tend to vary. That’s why he dresses the way he does, he approaches basketball the way he does, the comments he makes.”

Dinwiddie referenced a popular line from Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green.

“Like I said with the Draymond quote, insecurity is loud. You know that you’re there shooting shots to try to get a contract,” he continued. “You’re probably not even a third star really on a good team, because if you were, the Lakers would have kept you, right? Part of the reason that you left is to make more money. These are all things that are facts.

“And so at the end of my career, one thing that I wanna be known for besides a guy that did whatever it took to win in whatever spot he was at, is a guy who was also very honest. And so my complete response to Kuz and all that other stuff to address it directly, I mean: I played with the guy. We know what the priorities were.”

Dinwiddie also clarified that he was not talking about Wizards’ star Bradley Beal when discussing players on Washington who were playing for a contract.

“A lot of times people thought I was talking about Brad. I look at Brad in the same light as like a [Damian Lillard],” he said. “I think he’s Lord of DC. I think probably on a championship team he’s gotta be paired with a [Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo]. He’s probably 1B, which is no shot. I know on a championship team, I’m probably the third guy kinda like a Jrue Holiday with a Khris Middleton and a Giannis or whatever. I’m very secure with who I am in my career. I know on a really good team I can be a No. 2 kinda like we are right here with the Brooklyn Nets. We’ve got Mikal, we’ve got me, we’re still a playoff team. We’re able to keep the ship right.

“But if you’re in DC and you’ve got three max dudes — Porzingis, Brad and Kuz — like how do you miss the playoffs? Like none of these things make sense: unless your priorities aren’t in order.”

APRIL 12: “DINSHI—IE ISLAND”

Kuzma made a thread of tweets to respond to Dinwiddie’s appearance on FanDuelTV. In the thread, he responded specifically to six points Dinwiddie made.

“1.) insecurity is loud? The wizards & I have so much real estate on Dinshi—ie island,” he wrote. “This guy got signed by a team 60ms and was traded before the following season was over.”

“2.) what in the world have you won in this league? Lol you’ve been bounced around like a basketball my boy.”

“3.) You can thank KD & Kyrie (sic) for spearheading 34 wins before the all star break (11-13 after the break) for your playoffs.”

“4.) 2nd option??? More like 2nd point guard Lol my man I watched you for two months at the end of your Wizards tenure (being the second option) average 8-4-4. Sounds good but glad you’re hooping now!”

“5.) and yup! I got a bag coming. stop hating lol.”

“And last but not least! 6.) The only way you’ll ever be worth your contract is if the NBA finally gives you your wish of getting paid in crypto *check the markets* Enjoy the clicks! Go @sixers!!!”

APRIL 13: DINWIDDIE DOUBLES DOWN

After Thursday’s practice, Dinwiddie doubled-down on the claims he made about Kuzma on FanDuelTV. He also responded to being called ‘Dinshi—ie.’

“The funny part about it is there were a lot of contradictions. He resorted to name-calling: ‘Dinshi—ie,’ things like that, which I haven’t heard since I was probably about 10 years old. Things of that nature,” he said. “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? 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 truth and got rebutted with 10-year-old insults.”

Dinwiddie then compared their two career arcs.

“If we were gonna talk about my career and things that I’ve done that are 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,” he said. “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.”

The next matchup between Dinwiddie and Kuzma will be heated to say the least.

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