Spurs should sit out Leonard the rest of the season and do what they can to miss playoffs. They are now playing at the mediocre level of their talent. 2019 draft is a good one, might as well get the best pick possible. Maybe they even get #1 pick!
They've had a loosing record for 47 combined days over the last 20 plus years. Cry me a river-walk...
If you are Spurs and Kawhi can come back, why do you do that? Why not just sit him the rest of the way? Yes they can make playoffs but why do that to be first round fodder? Better to be out of playoffs and give your team a chance at a lottery pick. Worst case, your pick is still higher being out of playoffs even if lottery balls don't fall your way. Trust the process!
Spurs got a really tough schedule left... but I wouldn't be surprise if they end up being the 7th or 8th seed. I also expect Kawhi to play sometime next week at the latest.
It's too late to tank for a high draft pick anyway but they could hope that they can get a star with the 14th/15th/16th pick.....
http://insider.espn.com/nba/insider...ba-offseason-preview-draft-trades-free-agency There are small cracks in the foundation of the most stable organization in the NBA. Despite a 20th straight postseason appearance, the San Antonio Spurs will face an offseason that will likely provide more questions than answers. The future of Kawhi Leonard will be front and center, but San Antonio will enter the summer with the potential of half their roster becoming free agents. With the Spurs eliminated from the postseason, let's look ahead to the free-agency, draft and trade decisions facing San Antonio this offseason. The future of Kawhi Here is the question that the front office in San Antonio has to ask internally: Do you trust Kawhi Leonard with a $219 million contract? That is what Leonard is eligible to receive from the Spurs because he has met the designated player veteran extension criteria. On the one hand, Leonard represents everything a team is looking for: a 26-year-old small forward who has the size and ability to play multiple positions, an elite defender and a highly efficient offensive player. Leonard is essentially the model of a two-way player that all teams desire but is often unattainable. Without him, San Antonio has gone from a top-four team in the West to one just fighting to get into the playoffs. On the other hand, the right quad injury from September that he continues to rehab has cast a pall on the organization. Leonard appeared in only nine games this season and has kept his distance from the organization, including remaining in New York and away from the team as he rehabbed during their brief playoff run. The Spurs now enter the offseason with four options: 1. Sign Leonard to a five-year extension with a starting salary of $37.8 million in 2019-20 and one that averages $43.8 million over the length of the contract. The extension would carry a no-trade clause for one year from the date the contract was signed. 2. Sign Leonard to the same extension but put language in the contract that protects the Spurs if he misses games because of his current injury. This would be similar to the Joel Embiid contract in Philadelphia. 3. Table extension talks and bring Leonard back on an expiring contract with the goal of repairing a broken relationship. 4. Explore trade packages. Each option brings different challenges. It's a risk to commit to a supermax extension -- which represents an ascending salary of $37.8, $40.8, $43.8, $46.9 and $49.9 million -- to a player the Spurs have medically cleared but who has not stepped on the court since Jan. 13 because of continued discomfort in his right quad. One measure that would protect San Antonio is adding language similar to that in Embiid's extension with the Philadelphia 76ers. The $37.8 million in Year 1 would be guaranteed, but salary in future years would be tied to minutes and games criteria in the prior season as a result of his quad injury. There is, however, no certainty that Leonard would even entertain an offer like that, and he could deem it more of an insult. The Spurs could also wait until the extension deadline (Oct. 15) and evaluate his health in training camp before committing, or table talks into the offseason. Both scenarios are risky, as San Antonio would lose leverage in possible trade talks based on the timing, or could lose Leonard outright as an unrestricted free agent. Trading Leonard would be the last resort but the most realistic option if the relationship is not repaired. There would be no shortage of suitors for the small forward if he becomes available. Teams, however, would need to have a comfort level that Leonard is committed not just for the rest of the season but to a long-term contract starting in 2019. Keep in mind that Leonard is not DPVE eligible if traded, and teams acquiring him can extend his contract starting at only $24.1 million in the first year and six months from when traded, a projected $8 million less than his max salary as a free agent would start. If he's traded, Leonard would lose between $30 million and $70 million in his next contract. The range varies depending on whether he signed with the team he was acquired by ($30M) or a team with cap space ($70M) as a free agent. Leonard and the organization will come to a resolution this summer. It's just likely a matter of whether he's rewarded with the largest contract in NBA history or he starts next season's training camp in a different uniform. The restricted free agents Draft and develop. Those two words have been the foundation of San Antonio's success. While not as pressing as Leonard's future, the Spurs will have financial decisions when it comes to restricted free agents Kyle Anderson, Davis Bertans and Bryn Forbes. All three bring a different skill set to the Spurs' roster. Forbes, undrafted out of Michigan State, split time in the G League his rookie season before solidifying a role as a scorer coming off the bench this season. Forbes has early Bird rights allowing San Antonio to offer him a contract up to the average player salary (about $8.6 million), but a new deal projects to fall in the $2 million to $3 million range, a slight raise from his $1.3 million salary this year. Like Forbes, Bertans has early Bird rights based on the two-year contract he signed in 2016. While Forbes' minutes increased from 7.9 to 19.0 this season, Bertans has seen a gradual increase from his rookie season (12.1 to 14.1). When part of the rotation (see Jan. 8 vs. Sacramento), Bertans has been productive. Per Basketball-Reference.com, Bertans averaged 10 points per game with a true shooting percentage of 55.6 when playing between 20 and 29 minutes (19 games). The Spurs have turned Anderson from a project who was picked last in the first round into a player who has started 100 games, including 67 this year with Leonard out. Even with four years under his belt, Anderson is still far from a finished product based on his below-average perimeter shooting. The Spurs would have only the minimum and $8.6 million exception to use if they let all three leave, an unlikely scenario because of the investment the coaching staff has made in each player. [...continued...]
[...continued...] Summer cap breakdown 2018-19 salary breakdown Player | 2018-19 1. LaMarcus Aldridge | $22,347,015 2. Kawhi Leonard | $20,099,189 3. Pau Gasol | $16,800,000 4. Patty Mills | $11,571,429 5. Danny Green | (player option) $10,000,000 6. Rudy Gay | (player option) $8,826,300 7. Manu Ginobili | $2,500,000 8. Derrick White | $1,667,160 9. Joffrey Lauvergne | (player option) $1,656,092 10. Dejounte Murray | $1,544,951 11. Brandon Paul | (non-guaranteed) $1,378,242 12. First-rounder | (first round hold) $2,337,000 13. Tony Parker 1 | (free-agent hold) $23,179,689 14. Kyle Anderson 2 | (free-agent hold) $5,379,260 15. Davis Bertans 3 | (free-agent hold) $1,699,698 16. Bryn Forbes 3 | (free-agent hold) $1,699,698 Tim Duncan | (waiver) $1,881,250 Total: $134.5 million Salary cap: $101.0 million (projected) 1. Bird rights 2. Restricted Bird rights 3. Restricted Early Bird rights The Spurs are not operating from a position of strength this summer when it comes to flexibility. Although the front office has shown to be creative in the past in creating cap space, San Antonio will enter the offseason right at the threshold with $100 million in guaranteed contracts. This does not include the $8 million in free-agent holds of their restricted free agents. One thing to keep an eye on is the player options of Danny Green and Rudy Gay. If both players elect to opt out, San Antonio would have only $10 million in room plus the $4.4 million room midlevel exception to replace them. Dates to watch If Gay ($8.8 million) and Green ($10 million) elect to opt out of their contract by June 29, the decision will be more about a change of scenery and long-term security than a larger pay increase. Both salaries for 2018-19 project to fall in line with the $8.8 million full midlevel exception. Even with Gay healthy, the market for a key reserve this summer does not project to be north of $10 million unless he is willing to sign with a team on a bloated one-year contract. Green has struggled with inconsistency since signing his four-year, $40 million contract in 2015. While the Spurs would certainly welcome him back if he opted in, it would be hard to commit long term on a new contract. The shooting guard would be an ideal candidate coming off the bench for a team like Philadelphia. Reserve Joffrey Lauvergne also has until June 29 to decide on his $1.7 million player option. All three restricted free agents -- Anderson, Bertans and Forbes -- will receive a one-year qualifying offer by the June 29 deadline. Tagging them with the one-year offer will make each player a restricted free agent. One decision the Spurs will not have to make until after summer league is the future of Brandon Paul. After Paul appears in 64 games, his $1.4 million contract becomes guaranteed if he is not waived by Aug. 1. Restrictions The high salaries of LaMarcus Aldridge and Leonard also include a 15 percent trade bonus if either player is traded. Because Aldridge signed an extension, the language in the new contract that begins in 2019-20 has to remain the same as his current pact signed in 2015. In this case, the trade bonus would be $8.3 million. The bonus for Leonard is $3 million based on his $20 million salary for next year. The free-agent focus In the Spurs' perfect world, the fences between Leonard and the team are mended, Gay and Green opt into their contracts and the Spurs return the same team from this past year but with their All-NBA forward. However, as life in the NBA is far from perfect, San Antonio will have holes in its roster if both Gay and Green do not return, and the Spurs will have only $8.6 million and $3.4 million slots to replace them. San Antonio also has a decision to make on Tony Parker.The future Hall of Famer is a free agent for the first time in his career after signing three extensions in San Antonio. With the emergence of Dejounte Murray, Parker has been reduced to a role player since returning from his injury. The draft assets The last time San Antonio ended up with a draft pick in the teens, it was a small forward from San Diego State. In June, the Spurs hope their fortunes are similar to picking up Leonard in 2011. Here's how ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz have San Antonio picking in the 2018 draft: No. 18 (own): Troy Brown | SG | Oregon No. 49 (own): Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk | SG | Kansas The Spurs in the future have all their own first-round picks.
I see people indicating that Kawhi's movements are being dictated by The Shoe Company He has to move somewhere else or he won't get the big shoe contract If so . . . . The NBA might need to look into that Rocket River
I'd trade Leonard if I were the Spurs. Get a star back or some valuable assets to rebuild, and screw Kawhi out of the super max along the way.
