Current Roster Outlook (*Excluding two-way contracts*)
Cap Outlook: (*All cap projections courtesy of Spotrac*)
2024-2025 NBA Salary Cap Projection: $141M
Luxury Tax Line: $171M
Luxury Tax 1st Apron Maximum: $178M
Luxury Tax 2nd Apron Maximum: $189M
San Antonio’s Total Cap Allocations (Active Roster Salary Commitments + Cap Holds): $155M
Practical Cap Space: $21M
Maximum Possible Cap Space (All options declined, cap holds renounced and exceptions waived): $21M
Possible Financial Avenues:
Assuming that San Antonio is ok with walking away from Cedi Osman’s $12.6M cap hold, and waiving Devonte’ Graham (~$10M in savings), they are going to open up a decent amount of room under the $141M salary cap line. If the Spurs really wanted to get crazy, they could look to trade one or both of their two first-round picks in order to remove those fairly sizable cap holds from their books and open up even more space, but given where they are in the team building process, that seems unlikely.
Bottom Line:
San Antonio is likely to have roughly $20M in salary cap space to spend, as well as the $8M room exception.
Organizational Direction:
The Spurs are in a bit of a nebulous place. On one hand, they are coming off a season in which they won just 22 games, and they play in the ferociously competitive Western conference. On the other, they have a generational young player in Victor Wembanyama, who started to show his superstar colors as a rookie, leading the Spurs to a semi-respectable 10-12 record over the seasons’ final 6 weeks. San Antonio has an intriguing young running mate for Wemby in Devin Vassell, and they have another two cracks at adding young talent with the #4 and #8 picks in the 2024 draft. However, given that this isn’t considered to be a particularly strong draft class, it’s likely that the Spurs are still going to be seeking impact pieces to pair with Wembanyama following the ‘24-25 season. If they try to accelerate the team building timeline this summer by adding some veteran talent, they risk never properly aligning a core around Wemby that can grow and develop along with him. At the same time, they need to do a better job than they did in ‘23-24 of putting viable NBA players on the court, if only to get a sense of what type of pieces work best around the face of their franchise. San Antonio doesn’t necessarily have to be a playoff team in ‘24-25, but they probably need to take measurable steps towards competitiveness while maintaining as much future flexibility as possible.
Offseason Checklist:
1) Prioritize fit around Wembanyama with 2024 draft capital
San Antonio has an opportunity to come away from this upcoming draft as big winners, considering they hold two picks in the top 8 and a priority second-rounder in pick #35. Normally for a team coming off a 22-win season, I would recommend a best player available approach, especially in the lottery, as adding talent in any form is generally paramount. However, given Wembanyama’s presence as the clear foundational building block of the franchise, I believe it would behoove the Spurs to focus on players who complement his skill set with the #4 and #8 selections. Finding a point guard of the future who can help unlock Wembanyama’s immense potential as a pick-and-roll partner should be at the top of the list. Adding shooting at every position is a must as well, as San Antonio’s current roster is dangerously low on viable floor-spacers. That’s not to say that the Spurs should ignore their big board completely if they have a player available who is by far and away their highest ranked prospect, but fit should be more of a tiebreaker than it might normally be for another team.
2) Utilize spending power on acquisitions who fit from both a timeline and basketball perspective
While I definitely lean on the side of a slow build for San Antonio, I also understand the need for the Spurs to put forth a more competitive product in ‘24-25. With how effective Wembanyama was as a rookie, particularly on the defensive end, the path to the bottom end of the playoff mix might only require small upgrades at a few key spots. San Antonio doesn’t need to mortgage their future from either a draft capital or financial flexibility perspective in order to find players who can help them both now and later. For example, a market rate deal for 28-year-old Tyus Jones would give San Antonio a steady hand at point guard in the immediate, but also wouldn’t block off the pathway to playing time if the Spurs were to draft a developmental guard. The Spurs could also swoop in on an undervalued wing like Naji Marshall, who would provide some much needed 3&D capability without breaking the bank. With the amount of below-replacement level minutes the Spurs gifted to underqualifed players last season, simply getting competent play around Wembanyama and Vassell would be a huge boost to this team, and help establish the type of culture they surely want to build in the coming seasons.