Spencer Dinwiddie trying to raise nearly $25 million in Bitcoin, will let fans choose next team
Spencer Dinwiddie is once again trying to get fans involved in his contract.
The Brooklyn Nets guard announced a plan on Friday night that would allow fans to choose where in the league he signs a one-year deal if they can raise about $24.6 million in Bitcoin on GoFundMe.
He can’t be a free agent until after the 2020-21 season.
“Shoe companies and endorsers influence team decisions all the time,” Dinwiddie said in a statement, via The Athletic’s Shams Charania. “My/our biggest endorsers will always be the fans, so I want to have some fun with this while we’re all under quarantine.
“I hope no owners/team personnel participate so there’s no impropriety on this one of a kind endorsement deal.”
Dinwiddie tried to turn his contract with the Nets into a digital investment vehicle and go public, allowing investors to buy in, last year. That would have made him the first professional athlete to do so, however the league shut him down.
The idea was that were Dinwiddie to opt out in the final year of his contract in 2021 and find a more lucrative deal, both he and his investors would earn big. The NBA, however, said that this was a violation of the current collective bargaining agreement.
Dinwiddie is in the first year of a three year, $34.3 million deal with the Nets, and was averaging 20.6 points and 6.8 assists when the league suspended operations in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 27-year-old has a player option in his deal for the 2021-22 season.
If Dinwiddie doesn’t hit his fundraising goal, he said he will donate 100 percent of what was raised to charity.
What fans get out of this process, other than having a small say in where he may end up playing in a few years, isn’t really clear. It also sounds like Dinwiddie would get to keep both the Bitcoin that was raised by fans and whatever money he earns from that future one-year deal.
And, it’s highly likely that the league will swoop in and reject this plan for violating the CBA, too.
For now, NBA fans will just have to wait and see what happens with Dinwiddie’s latest business venture regarding his contract.
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