NEW YORK (AFP) — The Brooklyn Nets launched a new era — without the All-Star talents of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant — with a 116-105 National Basketball Association victory over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday thanks in large part to new arrival Spencer Dinwiddie.
Dinwiddie, who returned to Brooklyn from Dallas in the trade that sent Irving to the Mavericks on Monday, scored 25 points to help the Nets snap a two-game skid and settle down on a trade deadline day that saw Durant stunningly dealt to the Phoenix Suns days after Irving departed.
The Suns fell, 116-107, to the Hawks in Atlanta, and will no doubt be looking forward eagerly to Durant’s debut with the team.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers continued to bask in the glow of LeBron James’s ascent to the top of the NBA’s all-time scoring list on Tuesday.
James didn’t play in the Lakers’ home game against the Milwaukee Bucks, but he was feted before the contest with a video tribute after he overtook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had topped the career scoring list for 39 years.
Dinwiddie, who played five seasons for the Nets before he was traded in 2020, was delighted to return with a win, especially with Mikal Bridges and Camp Johnson, the key acquisitions in the Durant trade, not yet in uniform for their new team.
