Lakers News: How Spencer Dinwiddie's Kobe Bryant Fandom Led To His LA Signing

The LA native will now play for his hometown team.

Your Los Angeles Lakers were not active during this season's NBA trade deadline, despite a few obvious needs. Instead they stood pat, because the front office felt making drastic changes was unnecessary. 

The Lakers turned their attention to the buyout market and landed a guard who had been linked to them for some time, Spencer Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie will don the purple and gold soon enough. To the Taft High School alum, however, it won't just be another jersey. To him, it's the jersey of a team he was a fan of growing up in Los Angeles. 

Dinwiddie hails from Los Angeles, specifically Woodland Hills. And like most players around his age range, they also grew up ginormous Kobe Bryant fans. 

Dinwiddie was no different on that front. Although the 30-year-old and the Lakers were linked to each other in one way or another, it never panned out. However, that has all changed now, and Dinwiddie gets to live his childhood dream, playing for his favorite team and donning the same jersey his favorite player once did. 

Spencer Dinwiddie grew up a big Kobe Bryant and Lakers fan. Playing for the Lakers was always a dream for Dinwiddie, which will happen after he clears waivers. He was also heavily pursued by the Dallas Mavericks and recently attended their game against the New York Knicks at MSG.

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) February 10, 2024

The 10-year guard was heavily pursued by his former team, the Dallas Mavericks. However, it seemed like a done deal when many of us saw Dinwiddie at the Lakers game when they hosted the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night. 

Dinwiddie will surely bring some offensive punch to the team as he can create his own shot, create for others, and hit the occasional three. Instead of trading for a player of a similar caliber, the Lakers stayed patient and gave up nothing for the former second-round pick. 

The 6'5" Colorado product will now live his dream and do all he can to propel LA to new heights for the rest of the 2024 season.