SPURS BIG WINNERS IN FREE AGENCY
Flagship teams Lakers, Knicks get snubbed
When the San Antonio Spurs partied late into the night May 2, their Game 7 loss in the first round of the NBA playoffs to the Los Angeles Clippers having led to a surreal scene outside a Hollywood club where paparazzi were waiting, it was only natural to wonder if this was the team’s end.
The end of Tim Duncan’s career, perhaps, and by association the end of the Spurs’ storied run. Even they didn’t know what would happen.
“No idea,” small forward Boris Diaw had told the cameraman who asked about their uncertain future. “All we know right now is that we’re pissed that we lost.”
They’re not angry anymore. The Spurs won the day in free agency by such an unfair margin that it’s their rivals who now might be driven to drink.
Not only are Duncan and Manu Ginobili coming back and not only did young studs including Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green agree to return, but the Spurs landed one of the best big men in LaMarcus Aldridge and thus changed everything about their story. It went from a failed title defense and possible end of an era to a bold and bright new beginning.
Even with Marc Gasol remaining with the Memphis Grizzlies, Kevin Love staying with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Paul Millsap re-upping with the Atlanta Hawks, that sensational sequence of Spurs moves would have been more than enough to qualify as a free agency trump card. And then, as if the basketball gods were rewarding them for so many years of selfless service to the game, David West happened.
The two-time All-Star’s decision to leave a $12.2 million player option behind in Indiana to sign with the Spurs on a $1.4 million, veteran’s minimum deal was the stuff of Gregg Popovich’s dreams. Not only because West will be a fantastic fit coming off the Spurs coach’s bench, but because it also sets the perfect tone for their latest championship charge.
Say what you will about the fact that West had already earned approximately $87 million in his 12-year career, but sacrifice is sacrifice. And in today’s NBA, let alone today’s professional sports world, this was the kind of money move that is rarely seen.
Yet West isn’t the only one whose willingness to put his money where his mouth is had a significant impact on this summer.
Dirk Nowitzki should be lauded, too, as the 13-time All-Star’s decision to sign a three-year, $24 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks a year ago paved the way for the Mavs’ rebuild. Dallas added former Portland Trail Blaz- ers shooting guard Wesley Matthews (four years, $47 million).
Ditto for Duncan, whose salary hasn’t been determined but who made it clear to the team throughout the free agency process that he’d take whatever was left over after their roster remodel was over (likely well below $10 million annually).
Meanwhile, the NBA’s flagship franchises continue to falter.
If anyone still thought this leaguewide leveling of the playing field was a fleeting trend, this month’s developments dispelled that notion again.
Whether it was big man Greg Monroe spurning the New York Knicks for the Milwaukee Bucks or Aldridge and others passing up a chance to join the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s quite clear market size hardly matters anymore in today’s NBA.
There are lessons to be learned, too, chief among them the fact that recruiting top talent gets incrementally tougher when the incumbent superstars send such a strong message that they’re it.
In stark contrast to the Mavericks and Spurs with Nowitzki and Duncan, the Lakers gave then-35year-old Kobe Bryant a two-year, $48.5 million extension in November 2013 and the Knicks re-signed Carmelo Anthony to a five-year, $124 million deal last summer. Both players are worth their contracts in terms of the impact they have on revenue produced, but both teams have been shooting air balls in free agency ever since those deals. Could there be a correlation?
When you’re a young star being pitched by a team in pursuit, it’s one thing to hear about how you’ll be The Man one day and quite another to know that — even with Hall of Fame-caliber players sharing the same locker room — you’ll be the highest-paid player on the team right from the start. Money does indeed talk, after all, and sometimes it’s more eloquent than any of these general managers and coaches in the free agent chase. And while the Lakers and Knicks had enough salary cap room left over to add a maximum-salary star, it speaks volumes that they couldn’t get any of the toptier players to buy in.
Phil Jackson and his Knicks recovered nicely, getting veteran guard Arron Afflalo (two years, $16 million), big man Robin Lopez (four years, $54 million) and forward Kyle O’Quinn via sign-and-trade (four years, $16 million). The Lakers added a scorer in Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams (three years, $21 million) and veteran forward Brandon Bass, but their biggest acquisition — literally and figuratively — was center Roy Hibbert via trade with the Indiana Pacers.
Even the reigning champion Golden State Warriors — who re-signed forward Draymond Green (five years, $82 million) and reserve point guard LeAndro Barbosa (one year, $2.5 million) — would have to admit it’s the Spurs who upped their championship chances.
But owner Dan Gilbert and his Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers, who re-signed LeBron James to a two-year, $47 million deal, might be a close second, so long as Gilbert (net worth $4.8 billion, according to Forbes) doesn’t go broke first.
The Cavs have Love back in the fold on a five-year deal worth approximately $110 million, not to mention Iman Shumpert (four years, $40 million), but they also added Mo Williams (two years, $4.4 million) who was with James in his first go-round with the Cavs. They appear likely to come to terms on a deal with restricted free agent forward Tristan Thompson, who shares the same agent (Rich Paul of Klutch Sports) as James. Cleveland still has guards J.R. Smith (unrestricted) and Matthew Dellavedova (restricted) to deal with as well.