Spencer Dinwiddie Reportedly Waived by Hornets After Signing FA Contract in July

Faced with a roster crunch heading into the start of the regular season next week, the Charlotte Hornets will waive Spencer Dinwiddie.

Per ESPN's Shams Charania, the Hornets are waiving the veteran guard after signing him to a one-year deal as a free agent in July.

Spotrac's Keith Smith wrote on Thursday about the roster status for all 30 teams going into the regular season. The Hornets were one of three teams, along with the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards, who had to waive a player with a guaranteed salary because they had 16 players on standard contracts.

NBA rules permit teams to have up to 15 players on standard contracts. Smith speculated that Pat Connaughton would end up being the player released by the Hornets, citing his $9.4 million salary.

Connaughton also made sense as the odd-man out in Charlotte because he was acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks in what was effectively a salary dump for the Bucks to create cap space to sign Myles Turner.

One potential reason for keeping Connaughton is that the Hornets might view his expiring salary as being more valuable in a midseason trade. The 32-year-old could also end up helping their offense because there was a time when he was an effective three-point shooter, connecting on 38.5 percent of his attempts behind the arc over a two-season span from 2020-21 to 2021-22.

Waiving Dinwiddie is a bit surprising given the injury issues LaMelo Ball has had throughout his career. Ball has only played more than 51 games once in his first five seasons and a total of 105 games over the past three seasons.

This move seems to indicate the Hornets' belief in Tre Mann, a first-round pick in 2021, being able to run the offense as the primary backup and a starter if Ball misses time again due to an injury.

Dinwiddie spent all of the 2024-25 season with the Dallas Mavericks. He averaged 11.0 points and 4.4 assists per game in 79 appearances.