Well I kind of disagree. Yes, we are a small market, but most of the media says the Spurs are a classy organization that does things right and the players, at least in public, seem to say the same things. I don't think anyone sees it as a stain to play for the Spurs. In fact, most media will say they do a superb job at development. I do agree that Spurs don't get all the free agents they want, but for years that has been mostly because they never had much space and someone could always offer more. Sure, all things being equal, a player would prefer NY or LA. But mostly we could never get the best free agents b/c our core had a bunch of HOF players and high value role players and that took up most of our salary cap space. Sure, we lost out on someone like Jason Kidd every so often, but we did get LMA, who was a big free agent the year he signed with the Spurs and had an opportunity to play at Portland, NY, and the Lakers and chose San Antonio.
So I think people still respect the Spurs. It might not get you LeBron, but people know if they go to the Spurs, they are going to be treated right. I think Kawhi took more of a hit for leaving San Antonio then the other way around, but that is the one black eye on the franchise, though I don't think they could have avoided it.