It's like I've been saying since 2015. The Spurs seem into deferred compensation nowadays. I'm glad they're not stretching this needlessly (in fact, they'll be done with Tim this year as well), but $2.5 Million this summer is not negligible considering their proximity to the tax. They have enough room to fill their roster, and that's it.
Also

at folks thinking Manu was going to turn down that money because "he's not the kind of guy who's willing to be paid when he's not playing". This was the plan from jump-street, just as it was when Manu signed the one-and-one rMLE deal the year they got LMA.