In a true Spursian move by a true Spursian player at heart, Pau Gasol has declined to opt into the final year and $16.1 million of his contract with the intention to re-sign in San Antonio for cheaper.
Sources: Pau Gasol will decline his $16.2M option for 2017-18, but intends to work with Spurs on a longer term deal to remain with team.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 20, 2017
Gasol at 37 is clearly doing this to re-sign with the Spurs and help them retool their roster to compete for a title in the 2017-18 season, as he likely wouldn’t garner as much money in free agency.
If Gasol is willing to sign for the veteran exception that would go a long way and clear one major hurdle for having the ability to sign Chris Paul in free agency.
In order to officially clear enough room to offer the max to Paul in free agency they will either have to trade LaMarcus Aldridge, Danny Green or Tony Parker.
This would be a ruthless and somewhat shocking decision, but with trading Tony Parker and his $15.4 million in salary for 2017-18, they would have about enough space to offer Paul the max and not lose any of the complimentary pieces around Paul such as Aldridge or Green that would appeal to Paul to sign and become a better title contender.
The Spurs may have to take a cold hard look in the mirror and decide to trade Parker elsewhere for a team with cap space and forfeit another asset in order to truly position themselves to land Chris Paul and re-invigorate their championship window to at least have a chance to compete with the Warriors in the western conference.
