New Year’s Day 2020 has special meaning for Spurs big man LaMarcus Aldridge. His $24MM contract for next season becomes fully guaranteed if he remains on the team’s roster through 5 PM EST, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets.
Aldridge’s salary guarantee was originally scheduled for June 29, 2020 but the two parties agreed to move up the date to January 1 in October.
Aldridge isn’t going to be waived. The club pledged to agent Jeff Schwartz during training camp that they would fully guarantee his client’s 2020/21 salary. However, that guarantee doesn’t become official until Wednesday afternoon.
Aldridge’s salary for next season had previously only been partially guaranteed for $7MM, per Basketball Insiders’ contract data. Aldridge, who is making $26MM this season, remains on track to reach unrestricted free agency in 2021.
The Spurs will remain significantly below the projected cap for 2020/21 even with Aldridge’s salary added but that comes with a major asterisk. They’ll move over the cap in salary guarantees if DeMar DeRozan opts into his $27.7MM contract for next season.
Aldridge, 34, is having another solid season for San Antonio. He’s averaging 19.4 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 2.5 APG and 1.9 BPG in 30 games this season while playing 33.0 MPG. He posted 21.3/9.2/2.4/1.3 in the same categories last season.
Ok, 4 hours to trade him, let’s get moving Spurs!
The only team more disappointing than the Spurs this season has been the Hawks. They really need to trade Aldridge at some point.
Yea hopefully he doesn’t get get cut
LaMarcus Aldridge and a protected first for Myles Turner and Doug McDermott
Pacers get to solidify Sabonis as it’s future centre and get back a PF that doesn’t clog the paint, has a wealth of experience and a first rounder. Aldridge averages 19.5/7.7/2.5 and 1.9 this year, so he will give the team a good amount of points, some rebounding and a little bit of everything else.
Turner gives the Spurs it’s future centre, who at 23 averages 12/6/1 and 2. Turner has played under Pop with team USA, and alongside Derrick White. So Turner would already have a good relationship with coach and PG which is a huge bonus. Turner has already shown he’s an elite rim protector and is great at shooting the 3 ball for a centre and that shooting is something the Spurs could definitely do with.
Pacers would be a top team in the east when Oladipo returns alongside Brogdan, Aldridge and Sabonis. Spurs would be building to the future by having a young PG duo and young centre leading the team. Plus with the protections on the pick you could semi tank this year in order to get a better player. They sit 8th with 14 wins but could easily fall to 14th where the pelicans have 11 wins or lower.