If you were hoping for the Chris Paul-to-the-San Antonio Spurs chatter to die down anytime soon, you might want to take an extended vacation.
It’s not going anywhere.
Pau Gasol opting out of his contract only increased the noise. And now, with word that the Spurs are looking to trade LaMarcus Aldridge, the speculation train will only start rolling along at hyperspeed.
From ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne and Michael C. Wright:
The San Antonio Spurs, in pursuit of a top-10 pick in Thursday’s NBA draft, have spoken to at least three teams about a possible trade involving power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, sources confirmed to ESPN.
Aldridge’s contract contains a player option after the 2017-18 season, and he declined to address the situation when asked specifically by ESPN about it during the playoffs.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is about what happened during Thursday’s draft. Aldridge trade speculation won’t end there just because he’s still in San Antonio. The Spurs need to open up close $35 million in cap space for a guy like Paul, or around $30 million for someone like Hayward. With Gasol slated to return on a much cheaper deal, turning Aldridge into cheaper assets is a way of finishing off the cap-building process.
Here’s a deal I came up with previously:
Denver Nuggets Receive: PF LaMarcus Aldridge
San Antonio Spurs Receive: PF Darrell Arthur, SG/SF Will Barton, No. 13 pick
This would need to be completed after June 30, when the Nuggets’ books reset. And with Gasol coming back, the Spurs should probably find a third party to take Darrell Arthur. But if they want a top-10 pick, the No. 13 player and Will Barton is an adequate return. And while they’ll still need to trim some salary off their books to get in Chris Paul territory, they’ll get there without having cut ties with Tony Parker, Danny Green and Gasol—which, ya know, is impressive.
