NBA 2024 Offseason Check-In: San Antonio Spurs

Hoops Rumors looks at the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams and recaps the summer free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures and more. We take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what could come before the start of the regular season. Today we’ll focus on that San Antonio Spurs.

Free agent signings

Chris Paul: One year, $10,460,000. Includes an additional $1,568,999 in unlikely incentives. Signed with cap space.
Charles Bassey: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed except for the minimum salary. Waived the right to veto in trade.
Sandro Mamukelashvili: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed except for the minimum salary. Waived the right to veto in trade.
Brandon Boston Jr.: One year, minimum salary. Not guaranteed (Appendix 10). Signed except for the minimum salary.
Malachi Flynn: One year, minimum salary. Not guaranteed (Appendix 10). Signed except for the minimum salary.
Nathan Mensah: One year, minimum salary. Not guaranteed (Appendix 10). Signed except for the minimum salary.
Riley Minix: One year, minimum salary. Not guaranteed (Appendix 10). Signed except for the minimum salary.
Jameer Nelson Jr.: One year, minimum salary. Not guaranteed (Appendix 10). Signed except for the minimum salary.
- Note: Nelson was subsequently waived.

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Acquired the Timberwolves’ 2031 first-round pick and the right to trade the 2030 first-round picks with the Timberwolves (top-1 protected) in exchange for draft rights Rob Dillingham (No. 8 selection).
I have acquired the design rights Juan Nunez (No. 36 pick) and cash in exchange for draft rights Johnny Furphy (No. 35 pick).
Acquired cash from the Hornets in exchange Devonte’ Graham and the Pelicans’ 2025 second-round pick.
Acquired Harrison Barnes and the right to swap 2031 first-round picks with the Kings in a three-team trade RaiQuan Gray (two-sided; to Bulls).

Draft picks

Bilateral contract signings

Departed/unsigned free agents

Other movements

Salary cap situation

Went under the cap to utilize space.
The operation is now above the cap ($140.6 million) and below the luxury tax threshold ($170.8 million).
Has a salary of about $145 million.
No fixed upper limit.
Full room exception ($8M) available.

The offseason so far

After earning All-NBA votes and finishing second for Defensive Player of the Year honors as a 20-year-old rookie, Victor Wembanyama is on his way to becoming one of the best players in the league sooner rather than later. However, Spurs have made it clear with their offseason moves that they will not rush the process of building a competitive team around him.

Instead of going all-in on “win now” or taking an extremely long-term view and surrounding Wembanyama with several more young talents, San Antonio split the difference. The team entered June’s draft with two picks in the top eight, but only retained the first of the two, selecting the guard Stephon Castle Fourth overall and then sent the No. 8 pick to Minnesota in exchange for two long-shot draft assets — an unprotected 2031 first-round pick and a top-1 protected 2030 pick swap.

This is a risky move given the diverse outcomes for these two assets. It’s entirely possible that the No. 31 pick ends up in the No. 20 and the No. 30 trade isn’t used at all.

But the logic behind the move makes sense. The 2024 draft class wasn’t particularly loaded, so it was unlikely that the No. 8 pick would produce a star; Given their international situation, Wolves are a team whose long-term sustainability is worth betting against; and the Spurs not necessarily need to bet on these picks landing in the top halves of the 2030 and 2031 drafts, as they could use them as trade chips long before then to add players to complement Wembanyama as he enters his prime.

Adding two rookies to a young squad may also not have been the best approach to optimizing Wembanyama’s development, which was certainly a consideration for Spurs this off-season. That’s one of the main reasons the team used virtually all of its available cap space to sign two veterans: Chris Paul And Harrison Barnes.

Paul, who the Warriors waived so they could avoid guaranteeing his $30 million salary for 2024-25, ended up signing with San Antonio for about a third of that amount. The future Hall of Famer could have chosen to join any number of teams that were closer to title contention but had the opportunity to play as a head coach Gregg Popovich and alongside a young phenom like Wembanyama, Spurs were an attractive option.

Wembanyama spent much of his rookie year playing alongside “point guards.” Jeremy Sochan And Malaki Branham before veteran Tre Jones was eventually reinstated into the starting lineup. Sochan and Branham are promising young players, but they are not point guards, as last year’s experiments confirmed. Wembanyama was most effective offensively when Jones was on the court and should benefit tremendously from having either Jones or Paul running the offense in his second year.

Barnes won’t necessarily have the same direct impact on Wembanyama’s performance on the pitch, but the striker is a solid defender who should help make the big man’s life on that pitch a little easier. Wembanyama should also benefit from the knowledge and experience of Barnes and Paul – the two veterans have a combined 31 NBA seasons and three Olympic gold medals, and Barnes has won a championship.

Aside from bringing back the reserve free agent centers Charles Bassey And Sandro MamukelashviliThe Spurs didn’t make any other significant moves this summer, but they are well stocked with future draft picks that will position them to continue adding talent to this core, either by drafting players or using those picks as trade pieces .

With 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts and no player eligible for a contract extension, it’s unlikely the Spurs will have a particularly active October.

At the moment they are only promoting two players on two-way deals and therefore have to decide who will fill the third spot. Brandon Boston, Nathan MensahAnd Riley Minix are on the list of contracts in Annex 10 and could be candidates for converting these contracts into two-way contracts. Boston is probably the best candidate of the bunch if San Antonio is looking for a player who can compete in minutes – he has played 105 regular season games for the Clippers over the past three seasons.

The Spurs could also look outside the organization to fill that spot, either with a current free agent or with a player on another team’s roster who is released before the start of the season.

It’s also worth noting that the Spurs are one of the few teams with a ton of flexibility below the luxury tax line, making them a good candidate to facilitate a trade between two cap-constrained clubs like the Hornets are currently doing Karl Anthony cities Blockbusters.