| Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Fox | Dylan Harper | Wesley | |
| SG | Castle | Champagnie | Branham | |
| SF | Vassell | Keldon | Bryant | |
| PF | Barnes | Sochan | ||
| C | Victor | Kornet |
| Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Fox | Dylan Harper | Wesley | |
| SG | Castle | [free agent] | Branham | |
| SF | Champagnie | Keldon | ||
| PF | KD | Sochan | Mamu | |
| C | Victor | Biyombo | Bassey |
Baseline trade for KD – I don’t think Suns would accept anything less than this.
What would our depth chart be for the 2025-26 season?
| Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Fox | Dylan Harper | Wesley | |
| SG | Castle | Branham | ||
| SF | Champagnie | Keldon | Minix | |
| PF | KD | Sochan | Mamu | |
| C | Victor | Biyombo | Bassey |
What would the finances look like?
| Player | 2025-26 | ||
| 1 | Kevin Durant | $54,708,609 | 35.4% |
| 2 | De’Aaron Fox | $37,096,620 | 24.0% |
| 3 | Keldon Johnson | $17,500,000 | 11.3% |
| 4 | Victor Wembanyama | $13,376,880 | 8.6% |
| 5 | [Dylan Harper] | $12,368,379 | 8.0% |
| 6 | Stephon Castle | $9,559,046 | 6.2% |
| 7 | [free agent] | $7,000,000 | 4.5% |
| 8 | Jeremy Sochan | $7,096,231 | 4.6% |
| 9 | Malaki Branham | $4,962,033 | 3.2% |
| 10 | Blake Wesley | $4,726,328 | 3.1% |
| 11 | [S. Mamukelashvili] | $4,000,000 | 1.9% |
| 12 | Julian Champagnie | $3,069,767 | 1.5% |
| 13 | [Charles Bassey] | $3,000,000 | 1.4% |
| 14 | [Riley Minix] | $2,000,000 | 1.3% |
| 15 | [Bismack Biyombo] | $3,303,771 | 2.1% |
| 16 | [veteran minimum] | $3,000,000 | 1.9% |
My assumption is that we would want to stay under the tax. This would put us right at that limit. Everyone in brackets is assumed and not currently under contract. I think this would be a good deal for this next season. The biggest bummer is that we would only have about $7M to get a shooter in free agency and that we have no money for a center and so we would just bring back Biyombo and Bassey. Maybe we could get Sam Merrill as our shooter, but no idea.
I think the biggest question is if we would be able to extend KD into another contract and then what would that amount be. If we don’t extend him, we would find ourselves $13M UNDER the salary cap for 2026-27. We could sign a player up to that amount and then another player using the NTPMLE – so we could get two solid rotation players. We also have either one or two draft picks depending on Chicago. Here is our 2026-27 depth chart without extending him.
| Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Fox | [Rookie] | ||
| SG | Harper | [2025 FA] | ||
| SF | Castle | Keldon | Champagnie | Minix |
| PF | [2026 FA] | Sochan | Mamu | |
| C | Victor | [2026 FA] | [Rookie] |
My fear is that this team just isn’t good enough. Keldon would be on an expiring contract so we could package him and a future pick for another big and then move Champagnie into the backup SF position. For this reason, I don’t think I would want to add another first round draft pick into the trade. I would want to be able to use that draft pick plus Keldon for an upgrade at center.
If we extend KD for something like 2 years $100M, we would be over the tax and about $5M under the first apron with the following. I assume by this point, we would move Harper into the starting lineup and see what the three guard lineup looks like. We could also still do the Keldon trade to upgrade the center position or else we only have about $7M to get the backup center.
| Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Fox | [Rookie] | ||
| SG | Harper | [2025 FA] | ||
| SF | Castle | Keldon | Champagnie | Minix |
| PF | KD | Sochan | Mamu | |
| C | Victor | [2026 FA] | [Rookie] |
I think I land on the trade being worth it, but I would not do it if we have to add any more draft picks. Because eventually our roster is going to be pretty thin and we need assets to be able to refill it. If we cant extend him, we will end up sending out three players that could actually be in a rotation (assuming #14 could actually play in the future) for one year of KD and then having to use free agency to replace him.
Assume we use the #2 pick for Dylan Harper, use the full NTPMLE on a backup center or a shooter, and then the #14 pick to address the remaining hole. We could bring back Biyombo to slot into the backup center role.
| Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Fox | Dylan Harper | Wesley | |
| SG | Castle | [free agent] | Branham | |
| SF | Vassell | Keldon | Champagnie | |
| PF | Barnes | Sochan | Mamu | |
| C | Victor | [#14] | Bassey |
What if we trade Vassell, Barnes, and #14 for KD? We will only have like $8M to go and sign someone and we wont have the #14 pick to fill another role.
| Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Fox | Dylan Harper | Wesley | |
| SG | Castle | [free agent] | Branham | |
| SF | Champagnie | Keldon | ||
| PF | KD | Sochan | Mamu | |
| C | Victor | Biyombo | Bassey |
What free agents we go for really depends on what trades we make around the draft. If we trade for KD, we will probably only have around $8M if we want to stay under the tax. If we don’t, we should have the full NTPMLE which is around $14M.
Our biggest hole is the backup center position. Santi Aldama and Luke Kornet would be great there but they may be looking for a starting role elsewhere. I assume Brook Lopez and Naz Reid will be too expensive. I think we are going to have to bring back Biyombo and/or Bassey but maybe we could try Thomas Bryant.
Our next issue is shooting. Luke Kennard and Sam Merrill are snipers that we could probably afford. Keon Ellis, NAW, and Taurean Prince would all be great 3&D players off the bench but we will definitely need the full NTPMLE to afford them.
What should the Spurs do during the 2024-25 season? Nothing. I think we should play out the season and hope we get lucky with a good draft pick from Atlanta or our own.
The following is a look at the Spurs contracts over the next four seasons. I penciled Mamu and Bassey back in at their previous contracts but those two spots are technically still open. Maybe the Spurs add a veteran minimum free agent or bring back Barlow, but I doubt they do anything more.
Looking at the 2025-26 season, we have a couple options. We could bring back Tre Jones and/or Chris Paul. We could sign a $20M free agent. We could sign new minimum players or bring back some of our bench crew. We could try to use our cap space to help facilitate another trade as the third team like we did with Bullock, Cedi, and Barnes and acquire more draft capital. We can attach a draft pick or two to Collins, Barnes, and/or Keldon to add another piece.
We could do a combination of the options above. Here is a look where we bring back Tre Jones and CP in order to maintain maximum cap space for the 2026-27 season. I also extended Sochan at $20M per year. We would still have enough money to sign a big free agent, and at this point, I think we would be a free agent destination.
Of course our cap space would shrink if we turn Collins, Barnes, and/or Keldon into another player with more long term money. If we turn Collins into another $20M player that has money running through 2027, then we would only have around $20M to add a player in free agency. De’Aaron Fox will be a free agent after the 2025-26 season so he would be an example of a player we would be able to sign.
The other option is to go big before or during the 2025-26 season. We could combine Collins and Barnes and get anybody from a team that wants to tank. I am not sure who (1) owns their own pick in the 2026 draft, (2) would want to tear it all down, and (3) has a player that is worth the Spurs going after. Options could be Miami (Bam), Atlanta (Trae), Utah (Markkanen), Sacramento (Fox and Sabonis), or Toronto (Barnes). The following is if we could make the trade:
Spurs get
Heat get
The cap sheet would look about the same if we added De’Aaron Fox as a free agent after the 2025-26 season. Adding a player with this size contract will get us really close to the Luxury Tax in 2027-28 as we will have around $20M for four players before going over.
I think maybe the 2025 draft is going to help make our decision. If we could get a good pick, we may not need to add another max player and instead just build out our supporting cast.
From Zachary Colwell at Pounding The Rock
Promoted to General Manager on July 24, 2019.
19/20:
– Re-signed Dejounte Murray to a 4yr/64mil extension
20/21:
– Drafted Devin Vassell at #11
– Drafted Tre Jones at #41
– Re-signed Jakob Poeltl to a 3yr/26mil deal
– Re-signed Derrick White to a 4yr/73mil extension
– Bought-out LaMarcus Aldridge
21/22:
– Drafted Josh Primo at #11
– Signed Zach Collins to a 3yr/21mil deal with only the first year guaranteed
– Signed Doug McDermott to a 3yr/42mil deal
– Sign-and-traded DeMar DeRozan for a first round pick, two second rounders and Thad Young
– Traded an expiring Thad Young for a first round pick
– Traded Derrick White for Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, a first round pick and a pick swap
22/23:
– Drafted Jeremy Sochan at #9
– Drafted Malaki Branham at #20
– Drafted Blake Wesley at #25
– Traded Dejounte Murray for three first round picks and a pick swap
– Re-signed Keldon Johnson to a 4yr/74mil extension
– Traded an expiring Jakob Poeltl for a first rounder and two seconds
-Traded an expiring Josh Richardson for four second rounders
– Signed Julian Champagnie and Sandro Mamukelashvilli off waivers during the season
23/24:
– Drafted Victor Wembanyama at #1
– Acquired Reggie Bullock and a pick swap for nothing
– Re-signed Tre Jones to a 2yr/19mil deal
– Re-signed Julian Champagnie to a 4yr/12mil deal
– Re-signed Devin Vassell to a 5yr/135mil extension
24/25:
– Drafted Stephon Castle at #4
– Traded pick #8 for a first round pick, a pick swap and 8mil in cap space
– Signed Chris Paul to a 1yr/11mil deal
– Acquired Harrison Barnes and a pick swap for nothing by using the cap space saved from the draft day trade
NBA teams have three main ways to improve over the offseason: trades, the draft, and free agency. The draft order odds are on Tankathon and the lottery is May 12. This is considered one of the weakest drafts this century with no presumed star. A list of free agents can be found on Spotrac. Like the draft class, this free agent class is considered pretty weak. If the Spurs can not improve via these three methods, the final option is to just run it back. Theoretically the Spurs are in position to bring basically everyone back and then add one or two draft picks.
The Current Players
The following is a breakdown of the Spurs current contracts. Note I have made a couple assumptions for simplicity.
| # | Player | 2024-25 | % of Cap | 2025-26 | % of Cap | 2026-27 | % of Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Devin Vassell | $29,347,826 | 20.7% | $27,000,000 | 18.2% | $27,000,000 | 17.3% |
| 2 | Keldon Johnson | $19,000,000 | 13.4% | $17,500,000 | 11.8% | $17,500,000 | 11.2% |
| 3 | Zach Collins | $16,741,200 | 11.8% | $18,080,496 | 12.2% | ||
| 4 | Victor Wembanyama | $12,768,960 | 9.0% | $13,376,880 | 9.0% | $16,868,246 | 10.8% |
| 5 | Devonte’ Graham | $12,650,000 | 8.9% | ||||
| 6 | Tre Jones | $9,100,000 | 6.4% | ||||
| 7 | Jeremy Sochan | $5,570,040 | 3.9% | $7,096,231 | 4.8% | ||
| 8 | Malaki Branham | $3,217,920 | 2.3% | $4,962,033 | 3.3% | ||
| 9 | Julian Champagnie | $2,930,233 | 1.5% | $3,069,767 | 1.5% | ||
| 10 | Blake Wesley | $2,624,280 | 1.9% | ||||
| 11 | Charles Bassey | $2,600,000 | 1.8% | ||||
| 12 | Sidy Cissoko | $1,891,857 | 1.3% | $2,221,677 | 1.5% | ||
| 13 | Spurs 2024 Draft Pick | $6,278,480 | 4.4% | $6,592,352 | 4.4% | $6,906,536 | 4.4% |
| 14 | Open Roster Spot | ||||||
| 15 | Open Roster Spot | ||||||
| $124,720,796 | 88.2% | $99,899,436 | 67.3% | $68,274,782 | 43.8% |
The Spurs are currently in a pretty good place with regards to the contracts on the books. As it stands now, the Collins contract is probably the only one viewed as “bad” by the rest of the league. The Keldon contract is probably not desirable for another team, but I don’t think it would be labeled “bad”. The Spurs will probably end up with a roster that costs between $140M and $150M, so we can assume we can add an additional $25M for this season with or without waiving Devonte’ Graham. His contract is only guaranteed at around $3M so he could be waived and an additional $10M and a roster spot are opened up. At the same time, the Spurs have a 60% chance of landing Toronto’s draft pick this year which would come in at around $6M and take a roster spot. Cedi, Mamu, and Barlow are all on the 23-24 roster but did not make my assumed 24-25 roster. With regards to trades, this is how I view our current 23-24 players.
Untouchable: Wemby, Vassel, Sochan
Keep: Tre, Keldon
Willing to Trade: Collins, Champagnie, Bassey, Branham, Wesley, Cissoko, Barlow
Trade, Waive, or Let Go: Devonte’, Cedi, Sandro
A couple notes about this list. First, Wemby is the only true Untouchable, but for all intents and purposes, Vassel and Sochan are as well. I can’t imagine a scenario where it would make sense to trade one. Next, I don’t want to trade Keldon or Tre. I would only include them in a trade to match salaries if trading for a star. They are a great part of the Spurs future bench mob and are part of the heart and soul of the team. I love each of Deveonte’, Cedi, and Sandro. They are all great teammates and fit our system perfectly on offense. However, their defense is lacking and I think we can replace their offense with players with higher defensive upside. The Devonte’ contract is going to be they key to any trade. If we plan to make a trade, I assume we would guarantee Devonte’s contract to give us $13M to include in a trade. Finally, everyone in the Willing to Trade group is tradable if necessary. Most are young players on rookie contracts and we are not likely to get any value for them in trades.
Future Draft Picks
Here is a look at the Spurs future draft capital. Updated after the draft.
| Year | Round 1 | Round 2 | R1 Swap | Total | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 2025 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 10 |
| 2026 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 16 |
| 2027 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 21 |
| 2028 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 26 |
| 2029 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 30 |
| 2030 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 33 |
| 2031 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 35 |
The image above assumes three things: both the Atlanta and the Chicago picks convey in 2025, and that the Charlotte pick turns into two second rounders. The Chicago pick is top 10 protected and there is definitely a chance they fall below that next season and the pick is pushed to the 2026 draft.
Look at the picks over the next two drafts. Spurs will have five first round picks 2024 Spurs, 2024/5 Toronto, 2025 Atlanta, 2025/6 Chicago, 2025 Spurs, and theoretically could even have six if 2025 Charlotte conveys (it’s lottery protected so it will never convey because Charlotte will never ever make the playoffs). And then the Spurs have five second round picks as well. First round picks are guaranteed a roster spot at a defined salary based on the pick number while second round picks would typically go into one of three Two-Way contracts. Of course the goal would be to draft a second rounder good enough to make the actual roster, so if one of those five hit, the Spurs would use yet another roster spot.
This is the 25-26 roster if Spurs were to sign the five first round draft picks. Assume Spurs lose Cedi Osman, Devonte’ Graham, Charles Bassey, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Dominick Barlow and resign Tre Jones (and eventually Sochan). Draft pick salaries are estimates based on where we assume the pick could fall.
| Player | 2025-2026 | % of Cap | 2026-2027 | % of Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devin Vassell | $27,000,000 | 18.2% | $27,000,000 | 17.3% |
| Keldon Johnson | $17,500,000 | 11.8% | $17,500,000 | 11.2% |
| Victor Wembanyama | $13,376,880 | 9.0% | $16,868,246 | 10.8% |
| Zach Collins | $18,080,496 | 12.2% | ||
| Tre Jones | $14,000,000 | 9.4% | $14,000,000 | 9.0% |
| Jeremy Sochan | $7,096,231 | 4.8% | $20,000,000 | 12.8% |
| Malaki Branham | $4,962,033 | 3.3% | ||
| Julian Champagnie | $3,069,767 | 1.5% | $3,209,302 | 1.5% |
| Blake Wesley | $4,726,328 | 3.2% | ||
| Sidy Cissoko | $2,221,677 | 1.5% | ||
| Draft 2024 – Spurs | $6,278,480 | 4.2% | $9,313,512 | 6.0% |
| Draft 2025 – Atlanta | $5,000,000 | 3.4% | $5,000,000 | 3.2% |
| Draft 2024/5 – Toronto | $5,000,000 | 3.4% | $5,000,000 | 3.2% |
| Draft 2025 – Chicago | $3,500,000 | 2.4% | $3,500,000 | 2.2% |
| Draft 2025 – Spurs | $3,500,000 | 2.4% | $3,500,000 | 2.2% |
| Total | $135,311,892 | 91.1% | $122,169,900 | 78.3% |
This roster would only have five players over 22 years old! The Spurs would be way too young and most likely terrible. I think the Spurs must trade a couple draft picks before the 2025-26 season. Minimally, I would look to trade the Toronto and Chicago picks plus a couple second rounders. They don’t need to be traded this offseason, but they should be made available. Two protected firsts plus, let’s say three second rounders would be a decent haul for a decent role player.
Beyond the 2025 draft, the next question is what to do with all those second round picks. They have 20 second round picks between 2024 and 2030. They have 1/6 of the entire 2026 second round (five picks). Again, it is not critical to trade them all before this next season starts, but each of those 20 draft picks should be available.
Draft – Updated after the draft
Spurs selected Stephon Castle at #4 and traded away the #8 pick for Minnesota’s 2031 1st Unprotected and 2030 1st Top 1 Protected Swap. Brian Wright said during a press conference that “when we potentially want to trade with a team blowing it all up in 2026, an unprotected 1st rounder in 2031 is more attractive than a not-quite-star two years away from having to be really paid.” Based on this draft, I would assume we are going to do something similar next year. Maybe we draft two players in the first round if our picks are good, but I expect us to trade one or two picks for future assets.
Trades
Trading in the NBA requires incoming and outgoing salaries to match within a certain percent of each other. A package of Collins, Graham, and Champagnie, for example, gets up to $32M – then add an additional 25% per the trade rules – and the Spurs could bring back a $40M contract. There has been some Trae Young to the Spurs rumors, but his contract is $43M and so the Spurs would need to include another player or replace someone with Keldon. To me, that is too high of a price. Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Brandon Ingram, Jerami Grant, and CJ McCollum are other players that could maybe possibly be traded and are between $30M and $36M. Graham plus Collins (or Keldon) would be able to get to that salary. Only trading Graham’s contract would be able to get the Spurs up to around $20M (per a different set of trade rules) and there should be a bunch of trade candidates in the $10M-$20M range that could help the Spurs.
The major issue with finding trades for the Spurs is that no other team is going to want a player that the Spurs are willing to trade. No team is going into the offseason actively targeting a player from the Spurs roster. So the Spurs are going to have to include draft capital in any trade.
Trae, Mitchell, or Garland Trade
Let’s play out a scenario where the Spurs decide to go after Trae, Mitchell, or Garland. Most likely these would have to include Keldon, Graham, and a series of draft picks. The Cavs trade for Mitchell was Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, Sexton, three unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027 and 2029), and two pick swaps (2026 and 2028). I don’t know if the Spurs would have to match that price, but it is reasonable to assume we would need to trade Atlanta’s two unprotected plus Chicago’s protected and a handful of seconds, assuming we would not want to do any swaps.
If this trade happens, the Spurs are instantly right at the salary cap for the next three seasons. They could add a player from free agency at around $12M, but that would be about it. The team would be effectively the exact same as last year with Keldon having been upgraded and one or two rookies added. And then there really are no more additions the Spurs could do outside of drafting new rookies. The following table shows estimated salary with some assumptions and simplifications. Also assume adding a new rookie at around $5M every year.
| # | Player | 2024-25 | % | 2025-26 | % | 2026-27 | % | 2027-28 | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Devin Vassell | $29,347,826 | 20.7% | $27,000,000 | 18.2% | $27,000,000 | 17.3% | $24,652,174 | 15.1% |
| 2 | Trae Young | $43,031,940 | 30.4% | $45,999,660 | 31.0% | $48,967,380 | 31.4% | ||
| 3 | Victor Wembanyama | $12,768,960 | 9.0% | $13,376,880 | 9.0% | $16,868,246 | 10.8% | $49,127,929 | 30.0% |
| 4 | Zach Collins | $16,741,200 | 11.8% | $18,080,496 | 12.2% | ||||
| 5 | Tre Jones | $9,100,000 | 6.4% | $14,000,000 | 9.4% | $14,000,000 | 9.0% | ||
| 6 | Jeremy Sochan | $5,570,040 | 3.9% | $7,096,231 | 4.8% | $20,000,000 | 12.8% | $20,000,000 | 12.2% |
| 7 | J Champagnie | $2,930,233 | 1.5% | $3,069,767 | 1.5% | $3,209,302 | 1.5% | ||
| 8 | M Branham | $3,217,920 | 2.3% | $4,962,033 | 3.3% | $8,000,000 | 5.1% | $8,000,000 | 4.9% |
| 9 | Blake Wesley | $2,624,280 | 1.9% | ||||||
| 10 | Charles Bassey | $2,600,000 | 1.8% | ||||||
| 11 | Sidy Cissoko | $1,891,857 | 1.3% | $2,221,677 | 1.5% | ||||
| 12 | Draft 2024 | $7,112,076 | 5.0% | $7,467,423 | 5.0% | $7,823,198 | 5.0% | ||
| 13 | Dominick Barlow | $2,500,000 | 1.8% | ||||||
| 14 | Draft 2024 | $5,000,000 | 3.5% | $5,000,000 | 3.4% | $5,000,000 | 3.2% | ||
| 15 | Open Roster Spot | ||||||||
| $144,436,332 | 101.3% | $148,274,167 | 99.3% | $150,868,126 | 96.1% | $101,780,103 | 62.2% |
I actually don’t think this leaves us in a great place long term. We don’t have any flexibility over the next three seasons and then once Wemby is making $50M in the 2027-28 season, we would really be hurting. Garland’s contract is about $6M cheaper every season but continues until 2027-28.
Role Player Trades
VICTOR WEMBANYAMA WAS PLUS 46 OVER 1,250 MINUTES SINCE MOVING TO CENTER ON JANUARY 4 2024. This is insane given how terrible the Spurs were and considering their record. We already have our star and I don’t think we need to get another. I think we should trade for depth. All of the bench was minus over 100 in that same time frame. The following is a list of players in situations where I could see them being traded.
I would not want to include a 1st round pick in a trade for anyone here. So I don’t really see us going down one of these paths.
Free Agents
Here are some free agents I think are interesting:
This is where I would make my offseason move, I would go after Tyus Jones. Tyus solves our second string PG issue (either he or his brother comes off the bench) and is also a needed veteran. Backup PF is a hole we need to fill. We re-signed Mamu but he is not a reliable backup. Kyle Anderson would be a good backup PF. He would help the bench defense immensely and help run the offense (except he can’t shoot). Tobias Harris is interesting to me as a bench scoring PF, but I think he would be too expensive. I don’t know if Naji Marshall is big enough to help our bench defense, but if he is, I think he could be a good pick up for us. Haywood Highsmith could be a PF for us off the bench to help with the defense. Kelly Oubre would just help our bench offense, which needs a lot of help.
I really don’t want to trade Keldon. Why did we trade Rob Dillingham? I don’t think Stephon Castle is actually going to be a point guard and so that leaves us with only Tre Jones. We didn’t play Devonte Graham at all last year so does that mean we wouldn’t pick up Tyus Jones to run the offense for a couple years? I think either we pick up Tyus Jones or we are going to try to make a trade for a PG.
The lottery protected Charlotte 1st will probably turn into two 2nds. The Chicago 1st is top 10 and then top 8 protected for a couple years but should convey. The Atlanta pick is unprotected. Not pictured is the 2031 unprotected from Minnesota. The Dallas pick in the image is a swap. So this is four 1sts and a 1st swap (but really three 1sts, two 2nds, and one 1st swap).
The top 5 draft picks will probably be the following in some order:
The order listed is by my preference. The Spurs will be able to take one of the players above. I would prefer one of Castle or Sheppard assuming the Spurs would be able to fix Castle’s shot.
The next handful of picks would probably include:
If the Spurs do not draft Reed Sheppard at #4, I would have the above list as my order of preference. If the Spurs take Sheppard, I would move Devin Carter down the board below Buzelis.
I think ending up with one player from each of those lists would be pretty good. A couple of the picks assume that their shot will have to improve. I assume if the Spurs take anybody, they would be confident that Jimmy Baron (Spurs shooting coach) could fix the shot.
I have no idea how the following leads to an NBA Finals appearance.
2018-2019 Season
2019-2020 Season
2020-2021 Season
2021-2022 Season
2022-2023 Season
2023-2024 Season
Mavs draft picks remaining thru 2030 (seven drafts):
Updated Thursday June 27, 2024
Estimated based on likelihood picks actually convey
| Year | Round 1 | Round 2 | R1 Swap | Total | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| 2026 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 12 |
| 2027 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 16 |
| 2028 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 21 |
| 2029 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 25 |
| 2030 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 28 |
| 2031 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 31 |
Previous picks
| Year | Round 1 | Round 2 | R1 Swap | Total | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
January 3 is when Spurs starting lineup was set as: Tre, Vassell, Champagnie, Sochan, Wemby. March 10 is yesterday.
This list is limited to our most used lineups with a positive plus/minus. Note that Keldon is missing since he plays with the bench unit which is always net minus… EXCEPT for the five man rotation where he plays with the starters.
Per 48 Minutes
| Lineups | Tre | Vassell | Sochan | Wemby | Team | GP | Min | +/- | PTS | REB | AST | TOV | STL | BLK | FG% | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keldon_Vassell_Tre_Sochan_Wemby | X | X | X | X | SAS | 20 | 79 | 23.1 | 125.9 | 43.8 | 36.5 | 13.4 | 9.7 | 9.7 | 50.7 | 38.2 |
| Vassell_Tre_Wemby | X | X | X | SAS | 26 | 460 | 7.5 | 119.0 | 47.4 | 34.0 | 16.3 | 8.9 | 9.5 | 49.2 | 38.3 | |
| Vassell_Tre_Sochan_Wemby | X | X | X | X | SAS | 26 | 418 | 5.9 | 117.6 | 47.2 | 34.0 | 16.2 | 8.8 | 9.6 | 49.0 | 38.2 |
| Tre_Sochan_Wemby | X | X | X | SAS | 26 | 447 | 5.9 | 116.3 | 47.2 | 33.4 | 16.2 | 8.7 | 9.4 | 48.6 | 37.1 | |
| Tre_Wemby | X | X | SAS | 26 | 573 | 4.9 | 116.0 | 46.8 | 32.9 | 16.5 | 8.5 | 9.5 | 48.2 | 37.4 | ||
| Vassell_Wemby | X | X | SAS | 27 | 544 | 4.6 | 119.0 | 46.2 | 33.6 | 16.1 | 8.3 | 9.4 | 49.6 | 36.8 | ||
| Vassell_Tre_Champagnie_Wemby | X | X | X | SAS | 25 | 301 | 4.3 | 120.9 | 46.9 | 34.1 | 15.8 | 8.8 | 9.9 | 49.6 | 40.7 | |
| Vassell_Sochan_Wemby | X | X | X | SAS | 27 | 470 | 3.9 | 116.8 | 46.9 | 33.4 | 16.3 | 8.2 | 9.9 | 48.7 | 36.5 | |
| Vassell_Tre | X | X | SAS | 29 | 688 | 3.9 | 118.1 | 45.0 | 33.1 | 15.1 | 8.0 | 7.4 | 49.6 | 38.7 | ||
| Vassell_Champagnie_Wemby | X | X | SAS | 26 | 322 | 3.7 | 121.4 | 46.3 | 34.3 | 15.9 | 8.6 | 10.4 | 50.0 | 40.5 | ||
| Sochan_Wemby | X | X | SAS | 27 | 515 | 3.6 | 115.8 | 46.9 | 32.6 | 16.2 | 8.2 | 9.8 | 48.3 | 35.3 | ||
| Champagnie_Sochan | X | SAS | 30 | 434 | 3.4 | 118.3 | 46.0 | 32.6 | 14.5 | 8.3 | 8.9 | 48.3 | 38.2 | |||
| Tre_Champagnie_Sochan | X | X | SAS | 29 | 369 | 3.3 | 118.1 | 46.4 | 33.6 | 15.0 | 8.3 | 8.6 | 48.9 | 39.2 | ||
| Vassell_Tre_Champagnie | X | X | SAS | 28 | 378 | 3.0 | 119.7 | 46.2 | 34.1 | 15.3 | 8.2 | 8.8 | 49.3 | 40.0 | ||
| Vassell_Champagnie_Sochan_Wemby | X | X | X | SAS | 26 | 297 | 2.9 | 120.5 | 46.5 | 34.2 | 16.0 | 8.6 | 10.3 | 49.9 | 40.3 | |
| Tre_Champagnie_Sochan_Wemby | X | X | X | SAS | 25 | 288 | 2.5 | 119.5 | 46.7 | 34.0 | 15.5 | 8.5 | 9.7 | 49.5 | 39.6 | |
| Vassell_Tre_Sochan | X | X | X | SAS | 29 | 610 | 2.3 | 116.0 | 45.0 | 32.5 | 15.1 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 49.0 | 38.3 | |
| Vassell_Tre_Champagnie_Sochan | X | X | X | SAS | 28 | 344 | 2.0 | 118.0 | 46.4 | 33.7 | 15.1 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 48.5 | 40.2 | |
| Tre_Sochan | X | X | SAS | 30 | 676 | 2.0 | 114.8 | 45.3 | 31.8 | 15.2 | 7.7 | 7.3 | 48.4 | 36.8 |
What teams would be inclined to trade away a good player to either acquire more draft capital, tank, or get under the tax/apron?
(T) = trade option (FA) = free agent signing
Idea 1
| Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Tre | Tyus | Wesley | |
| SG | Vassell | Branham | ||
| SF | Osman | Keldon | Cissoko | |
| PF | Sochan | Anderson | Barlow | Draft Pick |
| C | Victor | Collins | Bassey |
Idea 2
Depth Chart to start the season
| Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Trae | Tre | Wesley | |
| SG | Vassell | Branham | Draft Pick | |
| SF | Champagnie | O’Neale | Cissoko | |
| PF | Sochan | Saric | Barlow | Draft Pick |
| C | Victor | Collins |
Hawks receive:
Spurs receive:
Notes:
Red from ATL; Black from SAS; Purple from SAC
Hawks receive:
Spurs receive:
Kings receive:
Notes:
Who says no?
Just putting some early thoughts down for next season.
| Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Chris Paul | Jones | Wesley | |
| SG | Vassell | Castle | Branham | |
| SF | Champagnie | Keldon | Cissoko | |
| PF | Sochan | Barnes | Mamu | |
| C | Victor | Collins | Bassey |
Here is a look at some options for the 2024 offseason
Assets going into the offseason
Assets received during the offseason
Assets sent out or not re-signed during the offseason
Here is a look at what the Spurs came into with and out of the 2023 offseason.
Assets going into the offseason
Assets brought in during the offseason
Assets sent out during the offseason
What are we going to do with the remaining money?
We still need a center
Mess with the Lakers
Get an asset
Get involved with Dame trades to store salary and pick up draft picks
Update: Just read that Lamar Stevens contract is only partially guaranteed at ~$481k.
We need to spend about $12mil more to hit the new salary floor of 90% of the Cap per the new CBA. We have about $26mil if we want to spend up to the salary cap. We have two roster spots left (max of 15 spots). The table below assumes the following:
Per the tenets, the goal of these signings is to increase value in case we want to flip them for other assets or bring for veteran locker room presence while maintaining value. These are free agents I think the Spurs should look at.
Offer Kyle Kuzma 4 years, $90 million ($22.5 million per year).
Here is what our salaries could look like.
2023 NBA Draft
1st Round Picks:
2023 1st – 1st overall pick
2nd Round Picks:
2023 2nd – 31st overall pick
2023 2nd – (via Toronto)
2024 NBA Draft
1st Round Picks:
2024 1st – Own pick
2024 1st – ( via Toronto, 1-6 protected pick)
2023 1st ( via CHA, 1-16 protected in 2023, 1-14 protected in 2024, and 1-14 protected in 2025)
2nd Round Picks:
2024 2nd – (via Los Angeles Lakers)
2025 NBA Draft
1st Round Picks:
2025 1st – Own pick
2025 1st – (via Atlanta, unprotected pick)
2025 1st – (via Chi, 1-10 protected in 2025, 1-8 protected in 2026, and 1-8 protected in 2027)
2nd Round Picks:
2025 2nd – (via Chicago)
2025 2nd – Own pick
2025 2nd – (via Toronto)
2026 NBA Draft
1st Round Picks:
2026 1st – ( via Atlanta, pick swap)
2026 1st – Own pick
2nd Round Picks:
2026 2nd – (via Indiana or Miami)
2026 2nd – Own pick
2027 NBA Draft
1st Round Picks:
2027 1st – (via Atlanta, unprotected pick)
2027 1st – Own pick
2nd Round Picks:
2027 2nd – Own pick
2027 2nd – ( via OKC, HOU, IND, or MIA, Spurs receive least favorable pick)
2028 NBA Draft
1st Round Picks:
2028 1st – Own pick
2028 1st – (via Boston, pick swap)
2nd Round Picks:
2028 2nd – (via Denver, 31-33 protected)
2028 2nd – (via Miami)
2028 2nd – Own pick
2029 NBA Draft
1st Round Picks:
2029 1st – Own pick
2nd Round Picks:
2029 2nd – Own pick
Update 6/19: Brian Wright really seems to not want to trade Vassell.
In no particular order. And also we can throw in a future top 16 protected 1st if needed. See future draft picks.
With the new CBA adding more punishments for exceeding the salary aprons, in theory teams will be more incentivized to stay below the cap thresholds.
Teams that probably want to or need to shed contracts but none interest me
Teams that probably want to or need to shed contracts and I will take one
I am just going to keep a list and do further deep dives in different posts. In general, the higher they are on this list, the more I like them in San Antonio
Note the names are just placeholders for consensus picks. Also I haven’t updated the teams since trades.
Lottery
Post Lottery
I just wanted to look over some of the Duncan era post-Robinson to see how our teams were constructed and what a typical tenure is for a player. It is about 2.25 seasons per player. If you take out Tony, Tim, and Manu, the average is 1.9 seasons per player. If you only include players that played at least 1000 minutes in a season, the tenure is 3.1 seasons. So basically when we play GM, we should remember that a player is most likely only going to play 2 to 3 years with us.
Updated: June 12, 2023 – Added Jarrett Allen, Cedi Osman
Here is a list of possible Spurs targets and some thoughts on them. Obviously there are a lot more targets but these ones seemed the most interesting and/or plausible.
Ultimately, I can’t tell what we really really need. I am pretty satisfied with our guards and wings heading into next year, so I think we probably want a PF or C. I think we need to play a traditional center with Wemby roaming on defense. Brook Lopez and Chris Paul would be my favorites but I doubt they want to join a rebuilding team. Of the more likely candidates, I think I like Kuzma, Naz Reid, Cam Johnson, and Poeltl the best.
| Player | FA or Trade | But Why? | Thoughts | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kuzma | FA | Scoring/ Veteran/ Defense | I actually like this idea the best | 10 |
| Naz Reid | FA | Center | My favorite [realistic] center idea | 9 |
| Jarrett Allen | Trade | Center | Simmons and Russillo mentioned Allen on the pod and I would do it tomorrow | 9 |
| Cam Johnson | FA | Good wing | I like this but I think I would rather go after a PF or C | 8 |
| Josh Hart | FA | Defense/ Veteran | Probably resigning with Knicks | 8 |
| Poeltl | FA | Center | Probably resigning with Toronto | 9 |
| Chris Paul | Trade | Leader | Would be amazing but probably going to the Lakers | 10 |
| Brook Lopez | FA | Leader/ Defense | Would be amazing but probably resigning with Bucks | 10 |
| D’Lo | FA | Bench scorer | No idea what his contract is going to look like | 6 |
| Poole | Trade | GS is prob going to trade him | Too expensive | 2 |
| Batum | Trade | Role player/ Veteran | Clippers roster | 6 |
| Cedi Osman | Trade | Maybe include in the Allen deal. | I like him. | 6 |
| Austin Reaves | FA | He might be awesome | Dont want to pay long term money | 5 |
| VanVleet | FA | He is awesome | Dont want to pay long term money | 5 |
| Derozan | Trade | Miss him | Just want him back | 6 |
| Westbrook | FA | For a bit of nasty off the bench | I’m actually not against it on a two year contract | 7 |
| Ayton | Trade | Center | Don’t need to add another project and too expensive | 3 |
| Siakam | Trade | Too expensive but would be good | 5 |
Blue represents estimates for contracts I think we should go for. Purple is future draft picks and assuming we keep each pick for two years. We still have about $26 million in this scenario and we could open up more between any of the people in rows 11 thru 15.
This is with us running Point Sochan and Tre Jones coming off the bench. This assumes we resign Tre Jones, Keita, Mamu, and Champagnie. This roster still has two open spots and about $30mil under the cap.
let’s go!
Spurs effectively made $480K so that Boston could save $6.6M. That’s $6.2M of good will – hopefully with no expiration date.
Update…. Bringing back Dieng.
The red line is the average amount of points that a team scored during a given season (left axis). The blue line is the amount of points that the league leader scored per game (right axis). The green line is the percentage of points that the league leader scored in relation to the average amount of points that the team scored.
Take for example the ’05-’06 season where Kobe scored an average of 35.5 PPG while the team average was 97 PPG. So Kobe averaged 36.6% of the team average.
The green horizontal line is the average of all the percentages. The purpose is to put scoring in perspective across all seasons. In ’88-’89 Michael Jordan averaged a league high of 32.5 PPG, but that was a high scoring season league wide. The league averaged over 109 points and so there were just a lot of points available. MJ’s percent of the team average was 32.5/109=29.8%. In ’02-’03 Tmac scored a league best of only 28 PPG but teams were only averaging 95. The league was a different sport at the time. His 28 PPG (28/95=29.4%) was statistically almost identical to MJ’s 32.5 PPG from a decade before.
D&D Beyond:
D&D Beyond:
D&D Beyond link:
| 1 | Tre | Wesley ? |
| 2 | Vassell | Branham |
| 3 | Keldon | |
| 4 | Sochan | |
| 5 | Wemby | Collins |
matthew.cafe 