Heat again linked to Dinwiddie

In March, as the trade deadline neared, reports linked the Miami Heat to Spencer Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie played just three games for the Brooklyn Nets this season; he suffered a partially torn ACL. Of course, the Heat ended up trading for Victor Oladipo instead — and he played only four games before getting injured for the season himself.

Three months later, the Heat are said to still be interested in the 28-year-old guard.

Dinwiddie has a $12.3 million player option for the 2021-22 season. If he wants to secure a long-term contract, he will opt out and become a free agent. Oladipo will also be a free agent. Would the Heat give Dinwiddie a chance after the Oladipo experiment crashed and burned? Is Dinwiddie a fallback option if the Heat aren’t able to sign Kyle Lowry, who also was linked to Miami before the trade deadline?

The knock against Dinwiddie is his sub-par 3-point shooting. In the 2019-20 season, the Los Angeles native made just 31 percent of his 6.3 attempts from deep per game. On a team with two non-shooters playing a lot of minutes — Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo — having someone else who defenses will happily leave open shrinks the floor.

Lowry, by contrast, made 39.6 percent of his 7.2 3-point attempts this past season. Even Oladipo is a better 3-point shooter than Dinwiddie.

It’s always a risk to sign someone coming off an injury to a long-term contract. But if that player returns to pre-injury form, it’s a good move — especially because it will come at a lower cost, Kevin Durant’s 2019 free agency notwithstanding.