The Brooklyn Nets have one of the NBA's top offenses this season despite the extended absence of starting point guard Ben Simmons. The three-time All-Star has missed Brooklyn's last 12 games due to a nerve impingement in his back, a development many thought would halt the team's elite fastbreak attack.

Yet, the Nets' offense ranks in the top-10 in the NBA during that span, and Spencer Dinwiddie's high-level play is a primary reason.

After playing a predominantly off-ball role in his first six games with Simmons and Cam Thomas dominating the ball, Dinwiddie stepped into the spotlight with both players sidelined in recent weeks. He's been among the NBA's top facilitators while manning the point over his last nine appearances, averaging 7.8 assists per game, the 11th-most in the NBA. His 3.89 assist-to-turnover ratio during that span ranks sixth among 19 players averaging seven or more assists.

The Los Angeles native has averaged 18.8 points per game during that period. He's continued to cement his status as one of the NBA's most efficient isolation scorers, averaging 1.12 points per possession on isos this season, the seventh-most among 35 players to run 40 or more, per NBA.com/stats.

Dinwiddie is adding 12.0 points per 100 possessions to Brooklyn's offense, ranking in the 97th percentile among all players, per Cleaning the Glass. The Nets are posting a 124.1 offensive rating with him on the floor, per PBP Stats. Without him, that number drops to 111.4.

“The human brain loves consistency, and so he’s been able to have a consistent role going into every game of late,” head coach Jacque Vaughn said. “I’ll take the blame for the way our team is constructed, the versatility of it. Some nights the roles would change and he was impacted in a bad way [early on] by that change on a nightly basis.

“But I give Spencer a huge amount of credit for sticking with me, sticking with us, and knowing that he is such a proven veteran in our league that we would need him in some sort of capacity that might look different at the beginning of the year. And so I just encouraged him to stay with us… Now he's in a really consistent role on a nightly basis right now.”

At 30 years old and on an expiring contract, the question for Dinwiddie remains: how long will that role last?

Spencer Dinwiddie's uncertain future with Nets

Spencer Dinwiddie, Brooklyn Nets

The Nets reset their timeline when they acquired Dinwiddie as part of a package for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving at last year's deadline. Many assumed the veteran point guard would be flipped for more assets before his contract expired. Dinwiddie may have agreed based on his comments regarding Brooklyn's “core” moving forward.

“The Twins are obviously a big part of the Brooklyn Nets core going forward,” he said after a November 14th win over Orlando. “Obviously, we’re missing Cam Thomas, who is a big-time scorer. I think Lonnie [Walker] is in the Sixth Man of the Year type of category. So that’s four very dynamic players. And then, along with Ben and Nic [Claxton], I think the Brooklyn Nets have a strong core going forward.”

However, Simmons' latest diagnosis has thrown a wrench into Dinwiddie's equation. The Nets announced Saturday that the 27-year-old received an epidural injection and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, extending his absence to a minimum of 19 games. It is difficult to envision Simmons taking the floor in the near future, with Vaughn admitting he has not yet progressed to sprinting.

Even if Simmons does return, banking on him to remain on the floor for an extended period seems highly unrealistic. After sitting out the entire 2021-22 season due to a combination of back and mental health issues, he underwent surgery on his L-4 and L-4 discs during the 2022 offseason. He then played just 42 games in 2022-23 before being shut down due to a nerve impingement in the right side of his back.

Despite an intense, eight-month rehabilitation program, Simmons was sidelined by the same injury six games into this season, although in a different area of his back. Brian Lewis of the New York Post consulted with a back specialist who said Simmons' injury can be “reoccurring” and “unpredictable,” adding that the disc the Aussie had surgery on during the 2022 offseason “will never be what it was.”

This begs the question: Can the Nets afford to trade Dinwiddie, their only remaining point guard? The answer is no, at least for this season, if they want to remain competitive.

If Brooklyn holds onto Dinwiddie past the trade deadline, it's unclear whether the team would re-sign him in unrestricted free agency. The veteran floor general will command a hefty contract, and Brooklyn already has $116 million committed to eight players next season. With Claxton set to command a deal above $20 million annually, that number could jump to nearly $140 million with the luxury tax set for $172 million.

Re-signing Dinwiddie and Claxton would require the Nets to move on from Royce O'Neale and Lonnie Walker IV—who are having career-best seasons and will be unrestricted free agents—while filling out the rest of the roster with minimums.

Regardless, with Simmons unable to remain on the floor, Brooklyn will need another point guard capable of running the offense in 2024-25. Whether or not that player will be Dinwiddie is among the Nets' top question marks moving forward.