Twitter feud between Spencer Dinwiddie and Kyle Kuzma escalates
By Cory Nelson
With the Washington Wizards’ season over, Brooklyn Nets’ point guard and former Wizard Spencer Dinwiddie decided, once again, to kick them while they’re down. A move that some players and fans saw as a blow below the belt, leading to another chapter in the Kyle Kuzma/Spencer Dinwiddie feud.
While waiting for Saturday’s matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers, Dinwiddie joined Michelle Beadle on FanDuel TV’s Run It Up to address past comments made by Wizards’ power forward Kyle Kuzma.
“What’s that thing Draymond [Green] just said, where he said, ‘insecurity is loud,’” Dinwiddie said, “Basically, here’s what happened. We lost to them; I was on the Mavericks. Obviously, we have an MVP caliber guy and we’re trying to be a championship caliber team. So, I make a statement about we need to be better. Understanding the culture and how games are kind of played in D.C., saying that’s an unacceptable loss in that fashion. He decides to respond because I guess he felt like it was a shot at him.” Kuzma’s sentiment was one that many Wizards fans would agree with as outrage ensued.
The feud between Dinwiddie and Kuzma potentially goes back to last season.
Dinwiddie and Kuzma played a total of 41 games together with the Wizards during the 2021-22 season. This was an era of Wizards basketball filled with drama and locker room issues that were more than apparent. On Feb. 10, 2022, Dinwiddie was traded to the Mavericks for Kristaps Porzingis and a protected 2022 second-round pick. Davis Bertans was also sent to Dallas in the trade.
“I wanted to respond,” Dinwiddie said, “My agent told me to stand down. Now I’m not in that environment, I’m in the playoffs, he’s not.
He continued saying, “There’s a lot of guys in the NBA that really pour their heart and soul into basketball. If we look at him and the way he approaches life, fame, all that stuff, we can see that his priorities tend to vary. You know that you are there, shooting shots to try to get a contract. You’re probably not even a third star really on a good team, because if you were, the Lakers would have kept you.”
On Wednesday, Kuzma took to a Twitter thread to respond to the comments.
In the thread, Kuzma would call Dhis former teammate “[D]inshittie” and repeatedly make fun of his on court performance and contract. He would also refer to Dinwiddie as a basketball referring to the multiple trades that the point guard has been involved in.
The back-and-forth banter from the two former teammates began back in January, when Dinwiddie, who was still on the Mavericks at the time, called out his former team with the following quote.
“For them, it’s a showcase,” he told reporters. “They’re over there trying to get paid, not trying to play winning basketball. For a team that has real aspirations and has an MVP, went to the conference finals last year, we have to be better to a man.”
Afterwards, Kuzma replied to Dinwiddie via Twitter. “The funny thing is they don’t play winning basketball.”
Kuzma is currently entering what could be his third year with the Wizards. He was traded to them by the Los Angeles Lakers on Aug. 6, 2021. Previously, he spent four years with the Lakers, mainly playing as a reserve. He is coming off a career season, averaging a career-high 21 points as a starter. Unfortunately, the Wizards missed the playoffs for a second consecutive year.
This thread along with multiple other instances of Kyle Kuzma coming up to bat to defend the Washington Wizards and the fanbase has left many feeling much more confident that he will return for another year with the team.