San Antonio Spurs Go All In By Re-Signing Danny Green, Trading Tiago Splitter

+Read full article
Getty Images
Getty Images

After much speculation that he would sign elsewhere, Danny Green agreed to stay put by agreeing to a four-year, $45 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs on the first day of free agency. Now that he and Kawhi Leonard are both officially back in the fold, the rest of the dominos can fall for the Spurs’ big 2015 plans.

In order to stay the course on their quest to land superstar free agent LaMarcus Aldridge, the Spurs immediately traded Tiago Splitter and his hefty $8.25 million salary to the Atlanta Hawks.

Had they kept Splitter, it would have been almost impossible for the Spurs to re-sign Green and still have enough salary cap room to land Aldridge. But now that Splitter is gone – likely for a return that won’t include a cap hit – the Spurs have enough cap space to sign Aldridge, who would simply step in and replace Splitter in the starting lineup.

The Spurs are meeting with Aldridge at 9:00 a.m. PT in Los Angeles and now have the best possible pitch to make him with the opportunity to win a championship in what has to be Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili’s final year and then the opportunity to win several more as part of a “New Big Three” with Leonard and Tony Parker.

The fact he’d be doing all that while playing under a max contract certainly wouldn’t hurt. The retaining of Green can’t be overlooked or underestimated, either; the Spurs wouldn’t have made their two runs to the Finals without him and he’s set to become a star in his own right as a budding “three and D” player. He fits the Spurs’ system perfectly and wouldn’t have made it in the NBA without Gregg Popovich, so he was as wise to stay in San Antonio as the team was in keeping him.

With Green and Leonard in place and Aldridge set to step in and make the Spurs even better than they already were, San Antonio is all in once again for the 2015-16 NBA season. And the best part for Spurs fans is this may just be the beginning of the next chapter in this dynasty.

Follow Jeric Griffin on Twitter @JericGriffin, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google

Share On FacebookShare StumbleUpon