Tim Duncan will become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but if you ask him about it, he'll tell you he hasn't spent a single idle moment considering his future, according to Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News.
"That’s something I’ll think about after the season ends," Duncan said. "For now, I’m not worrying about anything except our next game. I don’t even have an agent."
Duncan's former agent, Lon Babby, became the general manager of the Suns, meaning he could no longer represent Duncan or his other clients. But with no end to his career in sight, Duncan figures to hire a new representative before July. Even though he'll turn 36 next week, the longtime Spur has still been very productive this season, averaging 15.3 points and 9.0 rebounds in a career-low 28.2 minutes per game.
When they open negotiations with their star forward, the Spurs will have to be careful how much of a discount they request, says Monroe. Duncan had a 2011/12 cap figure of $21.16MM, and no team, including the Spurs will want to pay him that amount annually going forward. Monroe identifies a pair of recent examples of teams attempting to re-sign stars to new deals, pointing out that the Mavericks and Jason Kidd serve as a better case study than the Rockets and Hakeem Olajuwon.