Since I was asked, here's a more-exact breakdown of what signing Paul would entail. According to
this article by USA Today, the cap is projected to be $102 Million and the max for a player with 10 or more years of experience is $33.5 Million. The Spurs won't have more than like $13 Million in cap space this summer naturally, but they could create quite a bit more by dumping Parker and Gasol and by letting everyone but Simmons (because they're really not saving money but not tendering him) walk.
This is what they'd be looking at:
Name |
2017-18 |
LaMarcus Aldridge |
$21,461,010 |
Kawhi Leonard |
$18,868,625 |
Danny Green |
$10,000,000 |
Tim Duncan (stretched) |
$1,881,250 |
Kyle Anderson |
$2,151,704 |
Dejounte Murray |
$1,312,611 |
Livio Jean-Charles (waived) |
$1,035,200 |
Jonathan Simmons (QO) |
$1,676,735 |
Davis Bertans |
$1,312,611 |
Bryn Forbes |
$1,312,611 |
First-Rounder |
$1,697,225 |
Milutinov |
$1,832,075 |
Roster Charge |
$815,615 |
Roster Charge |
$815,615 |
|
|
Calculated Total |
$66,172,887 |
Projected Cap |
$102,000,000 |
Projected Cap Space |
$35,827,113 |
Cap Space After Paul |
$2,327,113 |
So they'd have enough money to maybe since someone half-decent and still have the room MLE, which due to the new CBA will be about the size of the current MLE. But they'd have a lot of holes, as this roster breakdown shows:
Paul, Murray
Green, Simmons, Forbes
Leonard, Anderson
Aldridge, Bertans
Milutinov
You'd have to hope Lee would come back for one of those two salary slots, while they could get a guard to take the other. Stashing Nikola for another year and moving on from Simmons would make like another $1.5 Million, which may or may not make a difference. But I think the key will be cheap labor, which is why I wouldn't really even think of stashing the pick. Ideally, you sign some guys then S&T Simmons for another rotation player, but that's a -ton of trading away for one summer.
tl;dr: It's possible to get Paul/Lowry/Hill depending on how easy it would be to move Pau and Tony, and how willing they are to start over (relatively speaking) for a third summer in a row. If Paul or Lowry were willing to give up enough money to have the Spurs re-sign Dedmon, that would go a long way toward making the move worth it.
Lowry, Murray, min guy, rookie
Green, cheap guard, Forbes
Leonard, Simmons, pick
Aldridge, Bertans, Anderson
Dedmon, Lee, Milutinov, rookie
Could see that as the basis for a contending roster.