SOMETIMES LOSING IS WINNING
Two years later, Spurs should be happy Rockets beat them to the punch for Paul
SAN ANTONIO — This is a column about sour grapes. It’s about a prize the Spurs wanted but could not attain, and about how they can rationalize that disappointment by convincing themselves the target of their desire was never worth coveting in the first place.
But it’s also about the upside of unanswered prayers.
For a few hours two summers ago, everything looked to be falling into place. The Spurs, coming off a 61-victory regular season and a trip to the Western Conference finals, had just removed the biggest obstacle to adding a marquee free agent to an already formidable roster.
In late June 2017, Pau Gasol opted out of the last year of his contract, a move that theoretically could have given the Spurs the salary cap space to lure Chris Paul to San Antonio. Paul had tormented the Spurs for years, and with Tony Parker facing an uncertain future after a devastating quadriceps injury, R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich would have jumped at the chance to add one of the NBA’s elite point guards.
With Paul joining Kawhi Leonard, who’d just asserted himself as one of the five best players in the league, and LaMarcus Aldridge, the Spurs might not have been favorites against Golden State, but they would have been a worthy challenger. All they needed was Paul to listen to their pitch.
As it turned out, the Spurs never even got the chance to make it. Before the free agency period began, Paul made up his mind that he wanted to join James Harden in Houston, and the Rockets pre-empted the Spurs’ overtures by pulling off a deal with the Clippers that left the Spurs without a target.
You know the rest. Lacking a more attractive backup plan, San Antonio resigned Gasol to a three-year contract that was unpopular right away. Leonard showed up to training camp two months later nursing an injury that ultimately led to his acrimonious departure. And the Spurs never pulled any closer to championship contention than they appeared at the moment Gasol opted out.
But almost exactly two years after that oh-so-brief glimmer of hope, a strange realization is becoming clear:
Things could have been worse.
The Spurs are lucky Paul never gave them a chance.
To be sure, this is the sour grapes part of the argument. But every now and then, the fruit you couldn’t reach really might have made you sick. And that’s exactly what Houston is learning now.
First, it should be acknowledged that Paul unquestionably made the Rockets better, and would have done the same for the Spurs. In each of the past two postseasons, Houston pushed Golden State in a way few other NBA teams could, and the Rockets wound up a few late-game collapses away from prevailing in both series. There is no doubt that they were right not only to pursue Paul, but to lock him up with a max contract.
But now, because of that contract, the Rockets are stuck. And according to multiple reports this week, they’re miserable, too. And regardless of whether Paul really is demanding a trade, Houston general manager Daryl Morey would be hardpressed to find anyone to take the remaining three years and $124 million of Paul’s deal off his hands.
So not only will the Rockets have to pay superstar money to a point guard in clear decline, their over-the-cap payroll means it will be all but impossible for them to add anyone else of consequence for the next couple of years. Their only chance for an upgrade is to find a team willing to cooperate on a sign-and-trade, but those are complicated and would require Houston to part with valuable pieces like Eric Gordon and Clint Capela.
The truth is the Rockets gave it an admirable effort but might have hit their ceiling. And while the Spurs of recent years can empathize with this, they also can see how missing out on Paul might have been a net positive.
Let’s say the Spurs signed him two summers ago. Leonard still would have shown up for training camp hurt. And if he thought guys like Parker and Manu Ginobili were too overbearing, imagine how he would have enjoyed sharing a locker room with Paul, who for better or worse has been known as one of the most abrasively competitive personalities in the league.
Paul probably wouldn’t have been enough to keep Leonard here last summer. He probably wouldn’t have been enough to lift Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan to the NBA Finals this summer. And in fact, his presence during both of the past two seasons might have stifled the breakouts of Dejounte Murray and Derrick White, who now represent the key to the franchise’s future.
As it stands, the Spurs are not title threats next season, while the Rockets still might be. But between a reported Paul-Harden feud and the ongoing drama regarding Mike D’Antoni’s future, Houston doesn’t exactly seem to be enjoying this era. And next summer the Spurs figure to have the kind of cap flexibility the Rockets won’t.
For San Antonio, is this just a case of revisionist history? Perhaps.
But sometimes the grapes really were sour all along.