Why can’t Spencer Dinwiddie be a superstar franchise player?

[Winter]

I'm in the same boat

SD looked terrible on a terrible Wizards team. How Nico knew that he would be back to the player he used to be is sorcery

It's difficult to ascertain whether a player is trending in a direction or a victim in a struggling team system. I think it's much easier for a fan to assume the player is trending in a direction. Most of us thought Dinwiddie was already limited, and his injury had slowed him further. At best, we thought he might be helpful simply because he was at least going to be playing games (unlike KP). I don't think most of us understood how badly the Mavs were missing his particular skill set.

I also don't think most of us understood what the Mavericks would look like with an active player capable of driving to the basket with confidence, and why KP was never going to be the magic bullet.  There's a good article on what the Mavs gained from the Dinwiddie trade at Mavs Moneyball and is worth a read. It's all opinion, but an interesting one.

The post-Porzingis Mavericks are fun to watch in more ways than one - Mavs Moneyball

I also wonder how long the Mavericks have known that the best thing to do for the organization would be to trade KP. I suspect it's much longer than we imagine. I suspect the idea has been rolling around in 2-3 people's heads at the top for perhaps as much as a year.