There is reportedly “mutual interest” between the Spurs and Chris Paul, and the Clippers are said to view San Antonio as a legit threat in the CP3 sweepstakes. However, that doesn’t mean the Spurs are the frontrunners to land the All-Star point guard. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, the Clippers remain the “overwhelming favorite” to re-sign Paul.
Appearing on CBS Sports Radio with Gary Parrish on Sunday, Wojnarowski said he has a hard time imagining Paul leaving Los Angeles. Not only can the Clippers offer more years and dollars than any other team, but CP3 also still has significant marketing opportunities in the L.A. area, Wojnarowski observes. By comparison, the Spurs appear to be more of a long shot to sign Paul.
“I’ve spent a lot of time around the Spurs this spring,” Wojnarowski said. “They would have to just tear up that entire payroll. It’s almost unlike anything the Spurs would’ve done or would do to even have a chance at him. I mean, they’d have to really gut the roster. And to do that for a 30-plus-year-old point guard, who has a couple great years left, there’s no question — I think there’s more pressure on the Clippers to have to re-sign him than for the Spurs to turn their whole franchise over to make a run at him.”
As Wojnarowski alludes to, the Spurs don’t currently have the cap room to make a run at Paul, so if they were to seriously pursue him, they’d have to move some salary, which would likely mean surrendering key pieces.
Even if San Antonio had the space to make a max offer to CP3, the team’s proposal would still fall $50MM+ short of what the Clippers could put on the table — L.A. can go up to five years (instead of four) with 8% raises (instead of 5%) for Paul. Based on a $101MM cap projection, Paul could land up to about $205MM over five years with the Clips.
Here’s a number for Wojnarowski…no state tax in Texas. That’s approximate another 12M added to the life of the contract if signed by the Spurs.
Would be a tough signing for the Spurs though. Would need to cut Mills loose, trade Green, hope Gasol doesn’t opt in, and if he does, look to adjust Parker’s contract.
It’s possible, just extremely tight.
Gasol will opt in and the state tax thing only applies to home games and other games played within the state
So I heard them talk about CP3 on tv and he was part of crafting this extension rule for these absurd contracts to obviously benefit him so why would he go to the Spurs and void his efforts? Plus his image is not going to be tarnished if they flounder as long as the make the playoffs floundering. Basically the Clippers and Knicks need to sign and trade Blake for Melo + another asset that simple.
Head fake by the Spurs…make clips pay the max. CP is on the hill…will soon be over the hill. Spurs ain’t paying for that.
So far over the hill hes on the bottom of the other side. Lol watched Fivel goes West last night jimmy stewarts line.
clippers were planning to pay the max. Your trying to make the spurs seem genious, stop
I think the Spurs would do fine with him in the future, can win another championship in a couple of years from now without Chris. But Chris needs the Spurs to win a championship. So it’s really his call championship(s) or millions of dollars. That’s a hard call.
Best to stay away from Paul. You don’t won’t to to get him at the tail end of his career and have all that money tied up in him and Aldridge. Who is also declining. Ppg and rbg have all went down.
..and hopefully the Clipturds do retain the most overrated PG in the History of the NBA. He holds, pushes,grabs and cheap shots on defense…and he dribbles his teammates into comas. Find me one that says “I love playing with this guy,he makes everyone better.”