- The Spurs‘ home game vs. Golden State at the Alamodome on Friday night is on track to break the NBA record for largest single-game attendance. As of Thursday, the club had sold 64,387 tickets for Friday’s contest, according to a press release. The previous attendance record was 62,046 for a Bulls/Hawks game at the Georgia Dome on March 27, 1998.
Spurs guard Tre Jones started his 41st game of the season on Wednesday night in Memphis, meeting the “starter criteria” and increasing the value of his qualifying offer when he reaches free agency, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Jones is the second restricted-free-agent-to-be to meet the starter criteria this season, joining Hornets forward P.J. Washington. As we explained on Wednesday after Washington made his 41st start, one of the ways for a player to meet the criteria is to start at least half of his team’s games during the season before he reaches free agency.
As the 41st overall pick in the 2020 draft, Jones would have been eligible this coming offseason for a qualifying offer worth $2,228,276 (125% of his current $1,782,621 salary). However, as a result of meeting the starter criteria, the former Duke standout is now eligible for a QO equivalent to what the 21st overall pick from the 2019 draft would receive if he had signed for 100% of his rookie scale amount. That figure works out to $5,216,324.
Jones is in the midst of a breakout season as San Antonio’s starting point guard, averaging 13.5 points, 6.4 assists, and 3.7 rebounds per night in 29.9 minutes of action. Like Washington, he’s a good candidate for a multiyear contract that will far exceed his qualifying offer amount, so even after increasing by about $3MM, that QO could ultimately function as a placeholder.
Still, Jones’ qualifying offer bump could have a bit more of an impact than Washington’s, since his QO will also be his cap hold. As a result, the increase from $2.2MM to $5.2MM will reduce the Spurs’ projected cap space by approximately $3MM.
Of course, there’s still a scenario in which Jones doesn’t even make it to restricted free agency. Because he wasn’t a first-round pick, Jones will remain extension-eligible for the rest of the season, so the Spurs could take him off the 2023 market by locking him up to a new deal before then. The 23-year-old’s maximum in-season extension would be worth about $58MM over four years.
After discussing several possible Cavaliers trade targets on Jake Fischer’s podcast last week, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com expanded on the club’s hunt for a wing in a subscriber-only story on Tuesday, taking a closer look at why Mavericks swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. appeals to Cleveland, why the club is reluctant to part with former lottery pick Isaac Okoro, and much more.
Here are a few highlights from Fedor’s story:
- Pistons forward Saddiq Bey “has some fans” in Cleveland, but there’s still a gap between how the Cavaliers and Pistons value him, writes Fedor, noting that Detroit’s asking price would have to come down significantly for Bey to be a realistic target for the Cavs. That line of thinking applies to a number of other possible trade candidates on the market, including Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma.
- Although Gordon Hayward‘s skill set makes the Hornets forward a logical target for the Cavaliers, his $30MM salary makes him a long shot for Cleveland. Kevin Love ($28.9MM) would likely have to be included in a deal for Hayward, and trading Love isn’t a possibility the team has internally considered, according to Fedor, who has previously reported that there’s mutual interest between the Cavs and Love in continuing their relationship beyond this season.
- If the Cavaliers liked Magic wing Terrence Ross, they could have acquired him “multiple times” in the past, Fedor writes, implying that the asking price was one Cleveland could have easily met. Fedor said on Fischer’s podcast last week that the Cavs don’t have much interest in Ross.
- Fedor identifies Mavericks forward Dorian Finney-Smith and Spurs veterans Doug McDermott and Josh Richardson as players worth monitoring in Cleveland’s search for wing help. He adds that the Cavs would have interest in Timberwolves forward Kyle Anderson and Rockets forward Jae’Sean Tate, but there’s no indication that either player will be available at this season’s trade deadline.
- The Spurs didn’t announce a timeline for Devin Vassell‘s return following knee surgery, but head coach Gregg Popovich said on Friday that the third-year guard is expected to be back later this season. “I’m thinking maybe a little after the All-Star break,” he said, according to Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).
10:57am: The deal is now official, per NBA.com’s transaction log. It will run through Tuesday, January 17.
7:14am: Just days after waiving him, the Spurs have agreed to re-sign big man Gorgui Dieng, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). A source tells Wojnarowski that San Antonio is bringing back Dieng on a 10-day contract.
Dieng, who will turn 33 later this month, signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with San Antonio over the summer. The former Louisville standout played sparingly for the team in the first half of the season, averaging 4.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 13 appearances (11.6 MPG), and was perhaps valued more for his veteran leadership in the locker room than his contributions on the court.
Because the Spurs had a full 15-man standard roster, they had to cut a player when they agreed to acquire Noah Vonleh and cash in a salary-dump trade with the Celtics. Dieng was the odd man out, despite having a fully guaranteed salary.
Having already locked in his full-season $2.64MM salary, Dieng will now get the opportunity to double-dip with the Spurs on a 10-day deal, which will pay him approximately $152K.
No corresponding roster move will be necessary for San Antonio to open up a spot for Dieng, since the club waived Vonleh shortly after trading for him. Assuming the signing becomes official today or tomorrow, Dieng will be eligible to play in the Spurs’ next five games, starting with Monday’s contest in Memphis.
The Spurs received $1.5MM from the Celtics as part of Thursday’s Noah Vonleh trade, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). As Marks lays out, the deal resulted in cash savings for both teams.
Because Vonleh’s cap hit is no longer on their books, the Celtics will save about $7.1MM on their projected luxury tax bill, so sending out just $1.5MM to realize those savings was a no-brainer for Boston.
As for the Spurs, they’ll only owe Vonleh about $28K in salary for the two days he spends on waivers, but will have to pay Gorgui Dieng an additional $992K for the rest of the season, since his salary was fully guaranteed. Still, factoring in the $1.5MM in cash that they got from Boston, the Spurs will come out about $480K ahead after waiving both players — on top of that, they have a newly opened roster spot, which they could use to take fliers on 10-day signees.
The draft pick the Spurs sent to the Celtics in the deal is San Antonio’s top-54 protected 2024 second-rounder, tweets Marks.
Here’s more from around the West:
- Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd didn’t rule out the possibility of the team bringing back Kemba Walker on a 10-day contract after waiving him earlier today, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. The team now has an open roster spot to bring in Walker or another player on a 10-day deal.
- Playing out of position as a center rather than a forward is getting Zeke Nnaji minutes in the Nuggets‘ rotation, but the role may not play to his strengths, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post (subscription required). After making 61-of-139 threes (43.9%) in his first two seasons, Nnaji is just 3-of-18 this season from beyond the arc. “With the five, it’s a lot less picking-and-popping,” he said. “They want me more rolling and putting pressure on that rim because if I’m popping every time, there’s not as much thrust on the rim, which collapses the defense. Right now I gotta roll more, even though I feel like I’m a capable shooter, I gotta do what’s best for the team.”
- In an in-depth story for The Athletic, Jason Lloyd explores why Mike Brown was so intrigued by the Kings‘ head coaching opening this past spring and what he learned in his previous head coaching jobs that he brought with him to Sacramento.
Spurs guard Devin Vassell is set to have his injured left knee scoped, the team has announced in a press statement.
The third-year guard sat out San Antonio’s 117-114 loss to the Knicks Wednesday with knee soreness, and has missed three of the team’s last four games due to the issue. Head coach Gregg Popovich had previously claimed the injury would make Vassell’s status day-to-day.
San Antonio indicates that Vassell is set to go under the knife on January 11 in New York, with Dr. Riley J. Williams scheduled to operate on the pesky joint.
Through 29 games thus far in 2022/23, the 6’5″ wing is averaging a career-high 19.4 PPG on .445/.404/793 shooting splits. He is also chipping in 4.0 RPG, 3.6 APG and 1.2 SPG as the second-leading scorer for the 12-26 Spurs.
Though a recovery timeline has yet to be established, losing Vassell for any extended period will hamper the on-court product for San Antonio. Given that the Spurs have appeared open to trying their lottery luck this summer, the club may ultimately not mind a lengthy absence for one of its biggest contributors.
Reserve wing Romeo Langford started in Vassell’s stead last night against New York, and could be in line for a major uptick in minutes and touches as Vassell recuperates.
3:18pm: The trade is now official, per Boston. The Celtics acquired a future protected second-round pick from the Spurs to complete the deal.
The Spurs have waived both Dieng and Vonleh, as expected, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
1:08pm: The Celtics are trading big man Noah Vonleh and cash considerations to the Spurs, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The Spurs are waiving center Gorgui Dieng to create a roster spot for Vonleh, who will also be waived, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
It’s a salary dump move for Boston, as Vonleh’s salary is non-guaranteed and would have become fully guaranteed if he remained under contract through Saturday. The Celtics will free up a roster spot and save $7.15MM toward their projected luxury tax bill, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The Celtics will also generate a small $1.16MM traded player exception, Marks notes (via Twitter). That’s the amount of guaranteed money owed to Vonleh.
The 27-year-old was a deep-bench reserve for Boston. In 23 games, he averaged just 7.4 minutes per contest. The ninth overall pick of the 2014 draft, Vonleh has played for eight different teams in as many NBA seasons. He played in China in 2021/22.
San Antonio has plenty of cap room available — $27.1MM, per Marks — to waive Dieng’s guaranteed salary without worrying about the financial implication. He was on a veteran’s minimum deal and rarely saw the court this season, appearing in just 13 games with averages of 4.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 2.0 APG in 11.6 MPG.
In fact, the Spurs are well below the salary cap “floor” of $111,290,000, so it was an easy decision for them from a financial standpoint — adding more money to the books just means they’ll be that much closer to the floor. If they don’t reach the threshold, the Spurs are obligated to make up the difference by distributing the shortfall to the players on their roster.
San Antonio will also open a roster spot with an eye toward flexibility ahead of the February 9 trade deadline. Since the Spurs still have so much cap room available, they’re likely to be involved in more minor trades that involve dumping salary.
The Spurs will have to send something back to Boston to make the trade official, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic, likely something with little-to-no value, like a heavily protected second-round pick or the rights to a draft-and-stash player.
As Hollinger tweets, it’s possible that a couple more players with non-guaranteed contracts could be traded in advance of the January 7 deadline, with an eye on savings toward the luxury tax.
- Devin Vassell is having a breakout season for the Spurs, but he continues to be hampered by left knee soreness. The third-year guard was out for Wednesday’s loss to the Knicks, with head coach Gregg Popovich referring to his status as day-to-day due to injury management, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).
- The Spurs’ Gregg Popovich says he’ll knows it’s time to retire when he loses his enthusiasm for coaching his team to play the right way, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News tweets. “I think a little voice in my head will tell me, ‘That’s enough.’ If I’m tired of telling somebody, ‘Why are you getting beat back door so much? Can you please stay in front of somebody?’…When I stop wanting to do that, I will know,” he said.