Jared Dudley balked at a buyout last summer because he thought he could still contribute. Traded to the Brooklyn Nets last July, Dudley has become the basketball whisperer for a young team that has gone further faster than most thought was possible.
Dudley is one of 12 finalists for the NBA’s Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award for what he’s done as a veteran leader for the Nets, but on Saturday night against the Milwaukee Bucks — in a game Brooklyn absolutely, positively had to have — the veteran led by example.
The 33-year-old played the role of small-ball center — certainly a strange concept for a guy who began his career as a small forward-shooting guard hybrid — and delivered the biggest rebound of the game, an offensive board with 1:25 remaining that resulted in Joe Harris’ go-ahead 3-pointer in Brooklyn’s 133-128 win over the Bucks at Fiserv Forum.