I like the trade possibilities this opens up to be honest. Olynyk is more salary than both outgoing players and it's easier to move one roster spot. Expiring contract. This gives the spurs a bunch of options. We all know they're likely not to use any of them unless it benefits them but it's nice to have the options now plus the extra room on the bench.
Decent move. Looks like we‘ll see some double big line ups more often. Funny enough, I heard somebody say the Spurs don‘t want a big at PF and are looking for wings instead.
Olynyk and Barnes could get them somebody at the deadline with 32 million in expiring salary combined. Spurs stay flexible and added some shooting and rebounding. Wesley would‘ve been alright as a third string PG, but I doubt he‘ll ever be able to finish at the rim at a high rate.
Except for the money in an Apron league where like 1/2 the teams are already hard capped and those two haven't been very good the past couple seasons.
Vassel and Keldon combine for $44.5M next yr.
2 max guys have gotten waived/stretched in 7 days bc the new cap, biggest stretched b4 this week was like $40M, now two $100+M have been stretched. The new cap is very punitive.
Assuming we can find a taker (or 2 and work out a super complex multi-team deal), how many 1sts are we sending out to interest teams in taking on that $45M?
Who is hard-capping themselves for Vassel and Keldon and who is the $35-40-$50M/yr legit wing we're getting back? Is the juice worth the squeeze? We have 11 legitimate NBA rotation player, several expirings, like $8M under the tax, and 3 roster spots + 3 Two-ways to fill. Spurs doing a 1-for-2 consolidation feels more likely than another 2-for-1.
Right now Spurs have 8/15 guys back, doubt their looking to turn over more than 1/2 the roster. Also feels likely they view at least one of Castle/Vassell/Sochan as that "legitimate" NBA wing.
It would be funny if Mitch doesn't play Harper and Castle together, like Pop did with Murray and White years ago.
The only guy I think the Spurs could get for that pair who has any chance to be a legit wing is Paul George. That would be quite the gamble, one I don't think it would be worth it to take for the Spurs. But it'd have to be someone with negative money like that. Beal could work, but he's not really a wing. Markkanen's possibly a bad contract as well, but Utah will refuse to believe that for at least another year.
Spurs aren’t that tight against the tax though. Garcia is probably counting some cap holds, such as Bassey’s, etc.
As it is Spurs have 12 players and a little over $175 mil committed. They have plenty of room below the tax to work with and I fully expect some moves. The backcourt suddenly seems thin, especially if Castle gets SF minutes. I imagine they’ll look for a vet PG and a shooter to round up the roster.
Excellent oportunity to add 3 string guards that can actually shoot, tbh.
I ing dig that so much more than still putting up Keldon in there. Not a chance in of happening though.
My point exactly. I'd love to take a flyer on PG for like 3/100M, not at all interested at 3/162M. Albatross and old.
Markkanen is less a wing than Barnes, made of glass, worse rebounder/passer/screen setter than Barnes, and plays Barnes level D, oh and worse shooter (career and last yr), but I'd be happy with him at Naz Reid money. 0 interest in paying him double that in an apron league- 4/200M including 102M after age 30 (where he prolly plays 30 games a yr). Albatross and glass.
Thought I read Beal's buy-out/stretch was done, but that seems set. But same drill. Phx bailed Wash out, don't bail Phx out. Albatross and small.
This new CBA punishes the out of bad financial decisions, don't bail another team out. Vassel's K isn't great, but not awful.
Keldon's K is absolutely fine, 2/35M is excellent trade ballast and easy to move (see Zach Collins).
But together there's just not a match for a Vassel/Keldon 2-1 consolidation trade, not for a wing we'd want to pay.
Also just funny to me that the ball-hander/wing/big is meant to replace and supplant the concept of 1-5, but when someone talks about "legitimate wing" like the first guy I responded to, they are saying we need a legit small forward. Just funny, Castle and Vassel are definitely wings, definitely legit NBA starter caliber guys. Sochan can more than handle "wing" on D, definitely a big on O, definitely a legitimate NBA rotation guy entering yr 4 whose started 80% of his games played.
The wing concept underscores the positionless bball concept, yet it was clearly being used there to mean a small forward/3 who can shoot, and D, and pass, and rebound. And really it meant, let's trade Vassel/Keldon for someone "legitimate", ie someone that's not flawed. Its just funny. Let's trade the guys I don't want, who I view as overpaid for a near/Max "legimate wing", ie an all-star talent. Classic Spurstalk.
Last edited by Arguendo; 07-09-2025 at 12:48 AM.
It's funny, it's like the more people come around and say things with authority, the more likely they are to be wrong... almost like Brian Wright reads this and makes his decisions just to make posters look stupid
In reality... hey, it turns out that the Spurs may have different roster construction ideas than any of us, and we're all just internet nobodies with opinions that mean jack !
I agree sending Vassell and Keldon out together is highly unlikely... but I'd say if pairing one of them along with Barnes and Olynyk, that might now be attractive for a team looking to get off a max contract they regret (Lauri, PG13, etc).
Not saying we should do this, but this certainly could make sense (though it opens up a serious issue with roster spots.
But, something like Keldon + Olynyk + Barnes in exchange for PG13, Jared McCain, Ricky Council IV, plus an unprotected FRP could be a way for Philly to get off long-term money.
Again... I'm not actually proposing the Spurs do this, just saying that having more expiring contracts of consequence might make moving Keldon or Devin more tradeable, if they are used to take back some bigger long term salary the other team wants to move off of. Of course, this might not be advisable for the Spurs since they should be looking to take on this long term money either, tbh.
Castle's case for starting this year is that he was the ing RoY last year. How many rookies of the year do you know that didn't start the following season? If he doesn't start, then Harper needs to. There's no reason to have both Castle and Harper come off the bench.
Backcourt is fine IMO.
Fox
Castle or Harper
Dev
Sochan
Wemby
Backups
Castle/Harper
Castle/Harper/Dev
Keldon/Julian
Barnes/KO
Kornet/KO
Fox/Harp/Castle/Dev will take up all the 1/2 mins no problem IMO
Spurs need a 3 IMO. IF they can get a legit rotation 3, then Fox/Castle/Harp/Dev get all the 1/2 mins and it’s all good.
The best I can come up with is that Malcom Brogdon won ROY as a bench player and then only started 20 of 48 games the following year.
The next recent example of a reigning ROY starting less than 50% of their games was Adrian Dantley in 1977-78... but that might be because from games started stats don't appear to have been recorded in the NBA for all teams at that timehttps://www.basketball-reference.com...dantlad01.html
Oh, I agree teams that have terrible contracts would be happy to take on Devin's mediocre (with potential to become good value) and Keldon's fine contract to get off of a terrible contract that the Spurs wouldn't want. Are any of those contracts "legitimate wings" today, and not 3-5 years ago? Like, I'm sure Mil would've preferred Devin + Keldon to waiving/stretch Dame's $113M and I'm sure the Spurs weren't interested.
Also agree collecting and having short-term, mid-sized, and expiring contracts is valuable. Keldon's contract has value, it's not negative. It's perfect sized to fit into tons of deals, same with Barnes and Olynyk. Having expirings is good, parlaying those into assets is good. Turning those into PG at $55M a yr for his 35, 36, and 37y/o seasons is bad. Ditto for Dame and Beal and Lauri. Cap flexibility is good, trade flexibility is good. Having cap space that allows you to acquire guys like Barnes and Olynyk is good.
And agree on mid-size expirings makes moving Keldon/Vassel more possible, but Vassel plus Olynyck is still near max money $41M. I'd wait for a star to become disgruntled and ask out then we could easily match Ks and offer valuable...I wouldn't pull the trigger on someone you'd classify as a "max contract they regret". I don't want any obvious regret contracts in Wemby's tenture unless they are short-term (2 yrs max) and a clear win for the Spurs.
I'm not going to wade into the hypothetical "legitimate wing" discussion, because it's not mine.
As I said, I'm actually not advocating for trading for those maxes other teams regret... just saying the doors are opened up.
Maybe it's the disgruntled star angle. Keldon + Olynyk + Barnes + every FRP we can add plus every swap we can offer... does that get you into discussions about Giannis? Probably not... but maybe that's the road Brian Wright is thinking...
Or... maybe... just maybe... we're just going to actually have Lunch Lady and Black Falcon as parts of our rotation.
I don't claim to know what we're doing... but I'm happy at having Kelly as bench depth and I'm happy with the flexibility his provides over Branham and Wesley (who no one really wants, we were just lucky WAS liked this opportunity to save a few million).
Do you think the Spurs would consider moving Dev into the second unit and start Fox, Castle and Harper together with Barnes and Wemby? This way Dev would be the primary scoring option of the second unit. You replace his shooting with Barnes and give Steph and Dylan the opportunity to play major minutes with Wemby from the getgo.
Maybe defense suffers too much in this scenario, but somehow I have a hard time not inserting a #2 pick into the starting five right away.
Maybe later, but I have a pretty high degree of confidence Harper or Castle will be on bench and Dev will start at the 3. Only thing that makes sense to me at moment since Barnes IMO is clearly not fit to be a 3 on defense
Now, Im not saying it’ will work but I think Spurs want to see how Dev does at 3 and that has shaped their off season
You win with the correct mix vets & rookies…. Great move Ba
He plays in the second club in the best league in Europe. Why would you want to send him to a depressive environment where he won't learn anything? He is in the best possible place and if he gains more playing time, his value will only go up. In Austin, he will no longer have any value and will remain useless in the current Spurs roster.
The Spurs are starting to look like something on defense. Someone compared Olynyk to Boris Diaw, there’s that. He is pretty much good in every area of the game. He is far superior to Barnes and Sochan.
Possible to see him lined up in the starting five. Barnes can be moved to position 3 and if this is not possible, there is still the possibility of improving the roster during the season if Sochan has not progressed offensively.
Is anyone left in New Orleans to trade for Keldon Johnson and Sochan? Trey Murphy?
I had a Fox/Harper/Castle/Barnes (for shooting)/Wemby lineup in mind. With Wemby and Barnes you have two (more or less) volume shooters in the starting five, Harper wouldn't have to be the number one offensive option of the second unit but ease into the team being the number three or four option alongside Fox and Wemby. Dev, in this scenario, would be the primary scoring option of the reserves.
Bye Branham!
It's a fine trade for Spurs. Olynyk should help more Spurs than Branham and Wesley. The pick traded is a really bad one: it would be a very late second round pick in a draft where Spurs already have 3 better second round picks.
Some random thoughts:
- Will Spurs play with two of Wembanyama/Kornet/Olynyk on the court at same time or is Olynyk a third string player?
- Spurs aren't cheap. This trade will cost them quite a lot of money. Olynyk salary is $3.8M higher than Branham+Wesley, they will need to sign one more player because it's a 2 for 1 trade ($2.3M) and the second round pick could have been sold for some cash (maybe $1M). At the end, it should cost Spurs around $7M. And Spurs went with a quite expensive backup center option with Kornet.
- With Barnes and Olynyk, Spurs have $32.4M in tradable expiring contracts for the 2025/2026 trade deadline.
- Spurs were really looking at adding a stretch big after trying to get Porzingis.
- Spurs have 12 players under contract. A profile that will complement well Spurs roster is a scoring guard who can shoot. Players like Bones Hyland or Alec Burks could work.
RC, you ever heard of the phrase “celebrating too early”? I mean, there are many signs that Olynyk is going to be our third string C rather than play any meaningful 4 minutes with Vic or Kornet. He only played 40ish games last season for Pete’s sake. Now if the Spurs sign Bassey or another C, I’d agree with you. But all this nonsense like this is a “win” on your part is way too premature. The Spurs could also turn around and flip him for other players before the season even starts. The Spurs were two bigs deep behind Vic last season, and by trading for Olynyk this makes them two bigs deep behind Vic this coming season. Who really is the one speaking with authority here when you guys are thinking this offseason’s finished and making assumptions like the rotation plays out the way you think it plays out - when I’ve provided a more reasonable take on why Olynyk’s the third string C instead. Now again I admit, if the Spurs sign another one - I’d be wrong. But the case is not closed.It's funny, it's like the more people come around and say things with authority, the more likely they are to be wrong... almost like Brian Wright reads this and makes his decisions just to make posters look stupid
In reality... hey, it turns out that the Spurs may have different roster construction ideas than any of us, and we're all just internet nobodies with opinions that mean jack !
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