NBA veteran Spencer Dinwiddie gets waived by Charlotte Hornets a week before Regular Season starts

With less than one week to go before the 2025-26 NBA regular season starts, the Charlotte Hornets have decided to waive Spencer Dinwiddie in order to not exceed the limit of having maximum 15 standard contracts on their roster.

The NBA veteran had signed with the team back in July after entering free agency, and now only three months later without even getting to play for the team, he has been waived.

Spencer Dinwiddie's NBA future dwindles amid contract waiving

The regular season starts on October 21, and Spencer Dinwiddie has only played a couple of preseason games from the Charlotte Hornets before his contract got waived by the team. He had joined the team after his 1-year contract with the Dallas Mavericks came to an end at the end of the 2024-25 season, where he averaged 11 points, 4.4 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game in 79 appearances for the Mavs.

With only a few days in hand before the regular season starts, the Hornets alongside the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards were 3 out of the 30 NBA teams that had 16 players on their current roster standard contract. And to keep to the limit, the Hornets have decided to waive Dinwiddie before the deadline, whom they had signed on a 1-year, $3.6 million deal. Now the question arises, where will he end up, as the season starts soon.

Spencer Dinwiddie's contract waiving comes as a surprise to many

Although one player was set to have his contract waived to maintain the limit of having 15 players on standard contract on the roster, the fact that it is Spencer Dinwiddie's contract that has been waived came as a surprise to many. Many had believed it would be Pat Connaughton, who is set to receive a $9.4 salary this season, would be the one to go.

Even LaMelo Ball, who has been prone to injuries throughout his 5-year long career so far, was seen by some as the one to go, even though he is essentially one of the best players on the Hornets current roster. But surprising most, it is Dinwiddie instead who is set to leave before he could make his mark on the team. At 32 years old, he has averaged 13.0 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in 27.7 minutes in 621 games so far, with 345 starts in his career so far.Also Read: Jonathan Kuminga’s explosive outburst leaves Golden State Warriors stunned in a heated preseason showdown