Cap Questions Cleared after Insane Moratorium Finale
UPDATE: David Aldridge has reported the Spurs have signed Tim Duncan for $5 million in the first year with a player option for the second. This is important because it may have just opened room for the Spurs to sign Manu Ginobili with cap space, leaving the Room Exception available to spend elsewhere. Stay tuned.
The NBA’s July moratorium ended with more insanity than a filled-to-capacity loony bin, officially revealing a $70-million salary cap nearly $3 million higher than what was originally projected. This, of course, is great news for the Spurs, whose tightly orchestrated cap gymnastics are only benefited by a little wiggle room. San Antonio is the clear-cut winner of free agency thus far, and in the wake of last night’s DeAndre Jordan hostage situation, a place of serenity and calm in a wild summer of change.
I’m not going to bog you down with numbers — the Spurs’ offseason couldn’t be going anymore perfectly. Considering all the moving pieces and roster turnover, the puzzle is coming together nicely, including the David West middle-of-the-blue-sky-puzzle piece that simply falls into your lap.
Here are the contract numbers we know for sure:
(These are projected salaries — cap holds in parentheses.)
LaMarcus Aldridge: $19,689,000
Kawhi Leonard: $16,407,500 ($7,235,148)
Tony Parker: $13,437,500
Danny Green: ~$10,000,000 ($7,647,500)
Boris Diaw: $7,500,000
Patty Mills: $3,578,947
Kyle Anderson: $1,142,879
Ray McCallum (acquired Thursday morning for 2nd round pick): $947,276
*Tim Duncan: (Exact salary unknown, but reported at just more than $5,000,000)
*Manu Ginobili: $2,800,000 (Potentially Room Exception, but possibly cap space)
*David West: $1,499,187 (Vet minimum)
**Minimum roster spot (West unsigned): $525,023
**Minimum roster spot: $525,023
**Minimum roster spot: $525,023
**Minimum roster charges account for empty roster spots. Spurs must account for 12 spots, so those open places are taken by rookie-minimum cap holds.
Spurs payroll (with Green/Leonard cap holds — without Duncan cap hold and allowing for his roster spot): ~$62.2 million.
Note: West will sign for veteran’s minimum, and Ginobili is signing for the Room Exception, which means not one of these deals comes with a cap hit. Spurs can go over to sign all of them. Manu’s contract is essentially money on the side.
I believe the reason we don’t know the details of the Duncan contract (and this is just speculation) is because he’s working in unison with the Spurs front office to utilize as much cap space as possible to fill out the roster. San Antonio can simply offer the max amount of money at their disposal to sign Timmy, but due diligence is important here.
As I wrote here, the Duncan domino is the first one that has to fall in San Antonio’s sequence of events. His massive $15.5 million cap hold must disappear before the Spurs can officially sign Aldridge, and that can happen in a number of ways.
In theory, the Spurs have a little more than $7.8 million to spend — the cap is essentially $70.1 million, because there’s a $100,000 buffer zone over the line — if we remove Tim’s cap hold from the equation. Pie-in-the-sky scenario: They renounce Duncan, spend a few million dollars on another free agent, then use the rest to sign their franchise big man. Again, this isn’t likely unless Duncan makes another huge sacrifice and they come to an agreement on another free-agent sweetheart deal elsewhere.
UPDATE: Um, he did make another sacrifice. It’s just ridiculous.
But for the time being, let’s not assume the Spurs luck out yet again this offseason. It’s already been filled with good fortune. The next steps in the process: San Antonio officially trades Tiago Splitter and uses Bird Rights on Duncan, signs him for roughly $7.8 million, then inks Aldridge to go all the way up to the cap line, then signs Leonard, Green, West, Manu, etc…
UPDATE: Now that we know Duncan signed for $5 million, the Spurs have lucked out again. By signing at this number, the San Antonio may have just opened up an extra $2.8 million in space, or simply left the Room Exception available.
They’ve only got a few more spots to fill (likely with minimum contracts), so the end of the offseason is near. It’s been a good one. Count your lucky stars the Spurs didn’t go after DeAndre Jordan.
*I’m not a lawyer, nor am I a pro capologist, so if you notice anything incorrect, please let me know!
