2019 NBA Free Agency Southwest Primer: Analytics, upstarts and perennial contenders
San Antonio Spurs
Situation Entering Offseason:
The Spurs came up short against the Nuggets but pushed them to Game 7 and came within five points of upsetting the second seed.
This year Pops gets back his point guard Dejounte Murray which already has me salivating over the prospect of him lining up with arguably the biggest sophomore surprise Derrick White.
Salary:
Cap Space: $ (23,752,739.00)
Floor Space: $ 1,963,747.00
Max Space: $ 8,936,253.00
Projected Space: $ (23,752,739.00)
*as per Keith Smith of Real GM
Key free agents to re-sign
This offseason isn’t likely to witness RC Bufford making many moves given how many players they’re running back. The key free agent they’ll look to re-sign is Rudy Gay who seems to be a match made in heaven for Pops. Gay reportedly is happy to re-up and won’t push for an unreasonable rate.
Pops will look to forge a new dynamic with this group while keeping an eye to the future with seven players hitting free agency next summer and many of those being possibilities to become long term Spurs.
More from Thunderous Intentions
- Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
- Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
2019 Roster Depth:
- LaMarcus Aldridge
- Marco Belinelli
- Davis Bertans
- DeMar DeRozan
- Drew Eubanks
- Bryn Forbes
- Chimezie Metu
- Patrick Mills
- Dejounte Murray
- Jakob Poeltl
- Lonnie Walker
- Derrick White IV
Draft Picks:
- Keldon Johnson
- Luka Samanic
- Quinndary Weatherspoon
2019 free agents
Rudy Gay
Dante Cunningham
Quincy Pondexter
Ben Moore (Restricted)
Donatas Motiejunas
2020 free agents
DeMar DeRozan (Player)
Davis Bertans
Marco Belinelli
Jakob Poeltl (Restricted)
Dejounte Murray (Restricted)
Bryn Forbes
Drew Eubanks (Restricted)
Of the six divisions in the league, the Southwest is most likely to make the least moves or at least it won’t surprise me if neither the Spurs or Grizzlies take large swings.
Although Dallas and Houston are covetous of adding a big name they certainly aren’t guaranteed of that option either especially the Rockets who’ll likely need assistance from another team.
dark. Next. Pacific 2019 NBA Free Agency Primer: Division in greatest flux
For the OKC Thunder this bodes well for games they’ll play against this division in the coming year.