Brooklyn Nets of USA rising star, Spencer Dinwiddie has committed himself to an international future with Nigeria’s men’s senior basketball team, D’Tigers, as he aims to be part of the squad to next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, megasportsarena.com reports.
With the Games having been postponed from its initial date this July, on account of disruptions to global sports calendars, Dinwiddie now has the chance of cementing his place in the Nigerian squad over the coming month, and the youngster says he will take full advantage of the change in timetable.
Now scheduled for the summer of 2021, the Tokyo Olympics were initially billed for this July/August, but had to be shifted because of the global coronavirus pandemic, but that has now given room for The Nets’ emerging star to team up with Nigeria, who qualified for the Games by posting the best finish among African teams at the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
Ironically, though, Dinwiddie, who was averaging a career-best 20.6 points per game and 6.8 assists before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, is making the switch only after he missed out on an expected invitation to USA’s team, and The Nets’ guard is already in the process of acquiring a Nigerian international passport so he can play for D’Tigers later on.
The Los Angeles-area native, who is registered as an American citizen and was drafted by Detroit Pistons out of Colorado, recently made headlines when he stroked home a clutch jump shot as Brooklyn stunned Los Angeles Lakers 104-102 at Staples Center.
The 27-year-old Dinwiddie, who moved into a starting role for the Nets this season after Kyrie Irving went down with a shoulder injury, continued his hot-scoring streak with 31 points in the Brooklyn Nets’ overtime win over the New Orleans Pelicans
D’Tigers will be handled by Golden State Warriors assistant coach, Mike Brown, with several USA-based players like Josh Okogie of Minnesota Timberwolves, Al-Farouq Aminu of Orlando Magic, Chimezie Metu of San Antonio Spurs and Ekpe Udoh of Utah Jazz set to make the team, which would further motivate Dinwiddie.
In over six seasons in the NBA, Dinwiddie has averaged 12.9 points with 5.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds, with another epochal moment in his career coming recently, when he scored a career-best 41 points against San Antonio Spurs in December.
Dinwiddie, who was not among the 44 players who USA Basketball named for their Olympics team in February, reacted to a report by Charania about his switch to Nigeria, as he Tweeted: “Well now y’all know lol.”
