Spencer Dinwiddie Praised by Fans in Nets' Win vs. Bulls After Durant, Kyrie Trades

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving may be gone, but Spencer Dinwiddie is back.

The veteran point guard made his return to the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night and was excellent, leading the team to a 116-105 win over the Chicago Bulls.

Dinwiddie led the Nets with 25 points, six assists and four steals, while Joe Harris notched all 18 of his points on second-quarter threes and Cam Thomas put up all 20 of his points in the second half.

Ben Simmons had another quiet night off the bench, putting up just eight points and eight rebounds, while Bulls star Zach LaVine led all scorers with 38 points.

But the return of Dinwiddie, following Brooklyn's franchise-altering trades in the past week, was the story on Thursday:

The Nets are so fascinating. While they no longer have the star power of Durant and Irving, they have an extremely intriguing group of high-end role players in Dinwiddie, Harris, Simmons, Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Royce O'Neale, Nic Claxton and Seth Curry.

That's fantastic depth, and at 33-22, they are in excellent position to make a run to a playoff berth if they come together. In many ways, they resemble the Nets team that Dinwiddie played on previously—not much star power, but a collection of scrappy and complementary role players.

The Bulls (26-29) continue to disappoint, meanwhile. The trio of LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević just can't seem to find the mojo they had early last season.

The Bulls had more talent on the court Thursday night. The Nets were the better team. If they are going to stay in the playoff picture in a post-KD and -Irving world, that will have to be the storyline more often than not down the stretch.