If Paul picks San Antonio, and the Spurs pay him the max, clearing enough room under the salary cap to fit his $35.3 million salary will be tricky. Even if center
Pau Gasol declines his $16.2 million player option for 2017-18 and the Spurs renounce all their other free agents -- a group including key reserves
Manu Ginobili,
Patty Mills and
Jonathon Simmons -- they'd still have less than $23 million in projected cap space based on the NBA's current $101 million salary-cap projection.
The most painless way for San Antonio to clear the necessary space in basketball terms would also be the most painful from a human perspective: moving veteran point guard
Tony Parker, who has played his entire career for the Spurs, winning four championships. Since Paul would effectively replace Parker, who
told French newspaper L'Equipe he doesn't expect to return from a ruptured quadriceps until next January, the on-court transition would be relatively seamless.
San Antonio could waive Parker and stretch his $15.4 million 2017-18 salary over the next three seasons to get to $33.2 million in cap space. Giving Paul his max would also require trading young reserves
Kyle Anderson,
Davis Bertans and
Dejounte Murray as well as this year's first-round pick (drafting a player who intends to remain overseas would also work), which would leave the Spurs with just three players under contract before signing Paul.
Alternatively, San Antonio could try to use draft picks to entice a team under the cap to take on Parker's entire $15.5 million salary, which under current projections would allow the Spurs to avoid trading any young players and to retain the rights to free agents Simmons and
David Lee while still creating the necessary cap space.