At 11 pm tonight, free agency will start and teams will make their pitch to players in order to lure them to their team to chase a title. Where are the Spurs in all of this?
The San Antonio Spurs are over the cap. As of right now, the Spurs are indeed over the cap. This makes signing a big-name free agent very difficult. However, they could have anywhere from $0-$28 million depending on cap holds for Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, and others.
Spurs have nine free agents. Tim Duncan is one of those but he is all but guaranteed to re-sign with the Spurs. Why else would Duncan go with Pop and Tony Parker to make a pitch to recruit LaMarcus Aldridge? Duncan will likely take less money as well in order to sign better players. Ginobili will announce his decision on retirement via a local newspaper in Argentina but if he were to return would also take less money. Leonard is almost a lock to return and also has a qualifying offer that the Spurs will most likely exercise. It has been reported that they will offer him a five-year max deal that he will except. If the Spurs did this, they'd sign him last for cap purposes. Danny Green, on the other hand, may be on his way out. There are teams that will be willing to pay him $10-$12 million a year, which the Spurs cannot do if they want a big-name FA.
The two big-name free agents that everyone has been associating with the Spurs are Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge. Gasol is reportedly going to stay put in Memphis. Aldridge, on the other hand, will be meeting with several teams. There are conflicting reports on who he is leaning towards signing with. The Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, and Dallas Mavericks are the three teams that sources have said are the likely destinations with the Spurs leading. This would be a huge acquisition as it would add a legit superstar to the team.
So here is where the Spurs stand: Nine free agents, Duncan and Ginobili will return for less money, Leonard will most likely receive a max deal, Danny Green may be out, Tiago Splitter may be traded to clear cap, and LaMarcus Aldridge is the big fish that the Spurs are chasing.
Regardless of what happens, the Spurs will look very different when the season starts. Whether or not they will be better is yet to be determined. On all Spurs related news, free agency acquisitions and more, stay tuned to Vavel USA.