NBA: Aldridge signs with Spurs, could open door for Raptors to look at Joseph
One door closed on the Raptors but another may have been left slightly ajar as the NBA’s wild free agency ride continued unabated Saturday.
LaMarcus Aldridge, who had met with the Raptors early in the process, decided to take his prodigious talents to San Antonio on a contract that could be worth $80 million (U.S.) over four years.
But the decision may have opened an avenue for Toronto to glom on to a home-grown product who would fill a serious roster need.
The salary cap machinations are still to be worked out — teams don’t even know officially what the cap and tax levels will be for the 2015-16 season yet — but if the Spurs need to jettison Ajax product Cory Joseph to make room for Aldridge, there is no doubt the Raptors will try to pounce on him.
Joseph, who would become Toronto’s backup point guard and provide the backcourt with some muchneeded defensive prowess, is a restricted free agent.
If the Spurs want to keep him — and there have been indications they do — all they would need to do is match any offer Joseph gets on the market.
However, they may need to exorcise him to get enough money to pay Aldridge the approximately $20 million he’ll start at, and Toronto might take the risk at signing him to an offer sheet, even though that would tie up free agent money for three days as San Antonio could wait before letting him go.
Or, Joseph could agree to a oneyear qualifying offer from the Spurs and become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Regardless, Joseph remains a person of interest for one of two holes GM Masai Ujiri has to fill.
The other — a power forward — is now much more difficult to fill through free agency, given the paucity of talented fours out there.
Aldridge was far and away the best but even the fallback options — David West of Indiana and, perhaps, Jordan Hill of the Lakers — are looking less likely each day. West is said to be entertaining offers from the Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers in his pursuit of a championship, and it’s unlikely the Lakers would take the hit and let Hill walk.
That would leave Ujiri with trades to pursue to find his replacement for Amir Johnson and perhaps one to replace Greivis Vasquez behind point guard Kyle Lowry.
The general manager does, however, have money to spend. The Raptors could have as much as $8 million still left in the coffers and still have the non-guaranteed contract of Luke Ridnour worth about $2.7 million to play with.