San Antonio Spurs Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Spurs To Sign Guard Olivier Hanlan

September 20th, 2018 at 6:28pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Spurs will sign guard Olivier Hanlan, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets.

It’s apparently a training camp deal, as San Antonio has 14 players with guaranteed contracts and another on a partially-guaranteed deal. They recently invited former Thunder swingman Josh Huestis to camp and signed Amida Brimah and Julian Washburn to Exhibit 10 deals.

The former Boston College standout was selected in the second round by the Jazz in 2015. The Spurs acquired his rights the following summer in exchange for Boris Diaw and a future second-rounder.

Hanlan, who has also played professionally in Lithuania and France, spent last season with the G League’s Austin Spurs. The 6’4” guard averaged 14.7 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 2.8 APG in 30.6 MPG in 44 games, including 30 starts. He averaged 6.2 PPG, 2.4 RPG and 2.6 APG in five Las Vegas outings with the Spurs’ summer league team.

Spurs Sign Amida Brimah, Julian Washburn

September 18th, 2018 at 4:08pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs have added a pair of players to their offseason roster, signing Amida Brimah and Julian Washburn to one-year contracts, according to RealGM’s transactions log. Those deals are be Exhibit 10 contracts, tweets Keith Smith of RealGM.

Brimah, who played his college ball at UConn, went undrafted in 2017 and joined the Spurs for training camp. The 7’0″ center has yet to make his NBA debut, but spent the 2017/18 season with the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s G League affiliate, averaging 6.6 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 2.6 BPG in 48 games (22.6 MPG).

Washburn, meanwhile, is a former UTEP small forward who went undrafted in 2015 and has spent time with the Austin Spurs and international clubs since then. He helped the Spurs’ G League squad win the NBAGL title earlier this year, starting both games in the club’s best-of-three series sweep over the Raptors 905. Most recently, Washburn played for the Cantebury Rams in New Zealand.

The Spurs now have 18 players under contract. That number will increase by one when Drew Eubanks finalizes his reported two-way deal, but will decrease by one when the club officially removes Manu Ginobili from its roster.

Spurs Will Sign Drew Eubanks To Two-Way Deal

September 17th, 2018 at 11:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Drew Eubanks, who went undrafted out of Oregon State, has reached agreement on a two-way contract with the Spurs, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Eubanks, 21, played three seasons with the Beavers, averaging 13.2 points and 6.8 rebounds as a junior. He joined the Spurs for Summer League play, participating in both the Utah and Las Vegas leagues.

The Spurs were among a handful of teams with both two-way contracts still available, so one spot remains open a week away from training camp.

Brent Barry To Join Spurs’ Front Office

September 17th, 2018 at 9:17am CST by Arthur Hill

Former Spurs player Brent Barry will leave his TV analyst job to join San Antonio’s front office, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Barry spent four seasons with the Spurs toward the end of his playing career and was part of title-winning teams in 2005 and 2007. R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich have been wanting to add Barry to the front office since he retired in 2009.

He has been working as a TNT commentator for NBA broadcasts and a studio host on NBA TV.

Barry will fill the front office spot vacated by Monty Williams, who left to become an assistant coach with the Sixers, sources told Wojnarowski.

No Former Spurs Champions Left On Roster

September 16th, 2018 at 2:13pm CST by Austin Kent

The Spurs will roster a team without several major contributors to their last championship, this season. A Basketball Insiders report breaks down their chances of being relevant in 2018/19 and the new challenges ahead.

Lack Of Desire Convinced Ginobili To Retire

September 15th, 2018 at 3:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Manu Ginobili admitted that his decision to retire was painstaking and that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich tried to convince him to play another year. “I am very sure about the decision, it’s still awkward,” Ginobili said during a press conference that was relayed by NBA.com. “But my finger shaked a lot before hitting that enter (button). It wasn’t an easy decision.”

Popovich was hoping that he could change Ginobili’s mind but realized quickly that his longtime sixth man wasn’t going to budge.

“He briefly tried to convince me. He saw me very convinced,” Ginobili said. “I guess he saw it right away. He respected my decision, of course, and we had a great talk.”

Ginobili announced his retirement on August 27th. The deciding factor was the lack of desire to go through the rigors of an 82-game regular season one more time.

“I couldn’t see my body doing through that kind of grind again,” he said. “When I came back here and came to workout a little bit to lift or bike or whatever, I saw Bryn (Forbes), I saw Dejounte (Murray) and some of the guys working out and preparing for the season and I was so far from that. That’s when I said, ‘For sure, this is it.’ There was a little bit of that door opened, but it closed pretty quick.”

Ginobili, 41, was the 57th overall pick in the 1999 draft. The Argentinian played overseas for three more seasons, then joined the Spurs in 2002, spending the next 16 years with the franchise.

Over the course of his NBA career, Ginobili appeared in 1,057 regular season contests, averaging 13.3 PPG, 3.8 APG, and 3.5 RPG. He also played in 218 more postseason contests, winning four championships with the Spurs. A two-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA player, the Argentinian shooting guard was the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2008.

Spurs Asked For Embiid Or Simmons For Leonard

September 14th, 2018 at 2:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Before the Spurs agreed on a Kawhi Leonard trade package focused around DeMar DeRozan, they were asking for much bigger names from the Sixers, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe. (Hat tip to Dale Delgado of NBC Sports).

In his latest Lowe Post podcast, Lowe says Philadelphia turned down San Antonio offers that would have included Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons. The Sixers were reluctant to part with stars in exchange for a player who isn’t guaranteed to stay beyond this season, and Embiid and Simmons are probably untouchable in any circumstances.

Another name that popped up in rumors was Markelle Fultz, whose rookie season was cut short by a combination of injuries and problems with his shooting form. However, Lowe says the Spurs were never interested in the top pick in the 2017 draft.

“There is no evidence that the Spurs wanted Fultz,” Lowe said. “I’ve been told the Spurs never asked for Fultz, and actively didn’t want Fultz, and in fact wanted one of the two big guys.”

Sixers guard J.J. Redick, who was a guest on Lowe’s podcast, defended Fultz and claimed he was poorly treated by the media last season.

Gasol Wants To Play For Spain Next Summer

September 5th, 2018 at 9:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former Spurs big man Joffrey Lauvergne said he would have stayed in San Antonio if he didn’t get an offer to play with Turkey’s Fenerbahce, he told Fenerbahce TV in an interview relayed by Sportando. Lauvergne declined a $1.656MM player option to sign a two-year deal overseas with the anticipation of getting more playing time. “I wanted to come back to Europe and the team that I wanted to play is Fenerbahçe,” he said. “I accepted the offer without thinking but if Fenerbahçe didn’t offer me i would probably stay in Spurs for one more season.”

Josh Huestis Receives Camp Invite From Spurs

September 5th, 2018 at 5:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former Thunder swingman Josh Huestis has received a camp invite from the Spurs, Fred Katz of MassLive.com tweets. The news was confirmed by Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link).

There’s been little news regarding Huestis since he entered unrestricted free agency this summer. The Thunder didn’t pick up his fourth-year option prior to last season.

Huestis wasn’t able to establish a steady rotation role with Oklahoma City until his third and last season with that organization. He saw action in 69 games and averaged 2.3 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 14.2 MPG but shot just 28.7% from long range. He also saw spot duty in four postseason games.

The Spurs currently have 14 players with contract guarantees, so there is a roster opening if Huestis shines in training camp. The Spurs have Rudy Gay, Lonnie Walker and Dante Cunningham as small forward options but the retirement of Manu Ginobili could open the door for Huestis.

The 6’7” Huestis was a late first-round pick in 2014 out of Stanford and spent the bulk of his time in the G League prior to last season.

Spurs Sign Chimezie Metu To Three-Year Deal

September 4th, 2018 at 5:32pm CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 4: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

AUGUST 30: The Spurs have reached a contract agreement with 2018 second-round pick Chimezie Metu, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Metu is signing a three-year deal with San Antonio.

Metu, a 6’11” forward/center, declared for the draft as an early entrant this past spring after a productive season at USC. In his junior year, Metu averaged 15.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 1.7 BPG with a .523 FG% in 34 games.

The Spurs used the 49th overall pick in the 2018 draft to nab Metu, and while it took a couple months for the two sides to finalize a contract agreement, Charania notes that the team is “high” on the young big man.

San Antonio will use a portion of its mid-level exception to complete its deal with Metu. The Spurs initially used about $6.15MM of their $8.64MM MLE to sign Marco Belinelli, and could’ve fit Dante Cunningham‘s one-year, $2.49MM contract neatly into the remaining portion of that exception.

However, signing Cunningham using the mid-level exception would’ve prevented San Antonio from offering Metu more than two years, since the team only would have had the bi-annual exception and minimum salary exception still available in that scenario. Instead, the Spurs completed their deal with Cunningham using the bi-annual exception, leaving their MLE open for Metu.

The Spurs currently have 13 players on fully guaranteed salaries, not counting Manu Ginobili, who figures to be waived at some point after having announced his retirement. Metu’s deal will almost certainly have at least a guaranteed first year, increasing San Antonio’s fully guaranteed contract count to 14. Quincy Pondexter, who reportedly received a partial guarantee on his new contract, is also in the mix for a spot on the regular season roster.