LaMarcus Aldridge Gives Back $7.25 Million in Buyout with Spurs (Edit: Woj Says $5.8 Million) (Edit 2: Ouch, Looks Like Only $2.7 Million Now) (Edit 3: Wait, it might actually be $7.25 million)

[gambit1990]

or Dennis Schroder...

imagine starting for the los angeles lakers and then deciding to go to san antonio to be a backup

[Dejounte]

imagine starting for the los angeles lakers and then deciding to go to san antonio to be a backup

Good point. Might be better to invest more into that wing. Not many point guards that are inexpensive. Dennis would have been paid too much, too.

[Dejounte]

I thought it was $2 million? Is this outdated info?

[timvp]

I thought it was $2 million? Is this outdated info?

BBallInsiders = HoopsWorld = The most untrustworthy of all the sites. They are probably just using Shams' preliminary number. But Woj + Bobby Marks usually have the most legit numbers and they have it at $2.7 million ... so that's the most believable number right now.

[mo7888]

I thought it was $2 million? Is this outdated info?

I asked Paul about this Thursday afternoon and he told me it would be a few days until we officially numbers on this....

[EasyMoney]

The 50m going between Lonnie, lauri markannen and patty mills

[baseline bum]

BBallInsiders = HoopsWorld = The most untrustworthy of all the sites. They are probably just using Shams' preliminary number. But Woj + Bobby Marks usually have the most legit numbers and they have it at $2.7 million ... so that's the most believable number right now.

Still makes me die laughing that Hoopsworld reported the Spurs were signing Karl Malone when the team announced a press conference that ended up being for the retirement of Sean Elliott's #32.

[mo7888]

BBallInsiders = HoopsWorld = The most untrustworthy of all the sites. They are probably just using Shams' preliminary number. But Woj + Bobby Marks usually have the most legit numbers and they have it at $2.7 million ... so that's the most believable number right now.

How much credibility does Paul Garcia have? He says that number is pretty much official now.

[exstatic]

After the trade they made at the deadline, need to consider the fact the Spurs may not sign anyone of note and just get to the salary cap floor.

The class frankly sucks. There IS no one of note. I think we’ll fill the room with trades that will bring in two year contracts, taking us to the next good FA class.

[exstatic]

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who has been more supportive of PAFO over the years. I've always been able to identify the silver lining in most of their moves. At best I can equate them to a very smart poker player. No one likes playing poker with that guy that just folds bad hands constantly (personally I am that guy) but it usually gets results because they stay in the game longer than those who take risks and when they eventually bluff everyone believes them.

They try not to make bad moves and that usually means folding and not making any. Even the Pau trade (rightfully one of their more glaring mistakes) was meant to clear up room for a CP3 offer. They never report what they have in the works so we don't know the way other fan bases do. They play to their strengths (the draft) and they value winning and culture above all. It's been said repeatedly by some of the major outlets that after 20 years of dominance and the nephew trade that other teams don't want to trade with us. Basically we're down and they're all either kicking us or simply enjoying the show.

That being said, this all makes no sense to me. We have 4 expiring contracts, 3 of which are former all stars, and we can't find one decent trade? We buy out the first, and dare I say only, FA in his prime to come here? We know that our best player wants to walk in the off season and we can't even get 1 first rounder for him? Meanwhile OKC is nipping at our heals in the standings and consistently beating us all while sitting on what? 18 draft picks over the next 5 years? Our youth movement is supposed to be this inspiring group but they are all at best fringe all-stars. I doubt any of them ever receive an MVP vote.

At the beginning of the season I said we should trade both DDR & LA to contenders for two late first rounders (this was before LA fell off), let the young guys develop, get a high lottery pick, use the lottery pick and the two first rounders to move up as high as possible and find our next cornerstone. By the time that player developed our youth movement would be a strong established group of veterans and we could make a solid run. Instead we ran it back (the low risk move) and now we will lose DDR and Gay to FA and throw bad money to overpay some soft euro that pop can drink wine with.

The only possible reasons I could come up with is
1) they are worried about the impact of covid on the NBA and are proactively getting ready for some drastic moves by the league like lowering the cap dramatically (I know in the school I work at we're told the impact from attendance issues caused by covid are going to dramatically impact schools budgets but it takes two years before today's issues are factored into the budget; perhaps the nba is the same and the team is bracing for what the lack of fans and attendance will do to the salary cap).
2) they are desperately trying to keep the value of the team up to get ready to sell (I'm looking at you Vega's getting the raiders and then our hockey and WNBA affiliate and now want the spurs to complete the silver and black theme).
3) they believe their smarter than everyone else and they would rather play the long game of not making bad moves and waiting for the right one (this is the most likely, but if true then people's assessment that we are now the Knicks of the west is also true).

Bottom line, the SA media will never call them out and say what we're (mostly) all thinking and saying. We need TIMVP to do the writeup the MSM won't do and confront the organization with the questions the fans have that we want answered. IMO it won't do anything but someone needs to try something and at this point he has the most prominent platform to make our concerns heard.

There has been media chatter that no one wants to help us rebuild, and any offers for our players were lesser players on longer deals. In that case, you do nothing, rather than move backwards.

[Robz4000]

The class frankly sucks. There IS no one of note. I think we’ll fill the room with trades that will bring in two year contracts, taking us to the next good FA class.

What? This is a great draft. Same with next year. Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Jalen Suggs all have superstar ceilings, especially Cunningham. This could be the best draft since 2012 tbh.

[TDMVPDPOY]

The 50m going between Lonnie, lauri markannen and patty mills

50mills going to get a loyalty contract? wtf is front office doing...time to get rid of the freeloaders on the team and start going young

[exstatic]

Honestly, if you can get DDR and Lowry to sign 2 year deals it does make some sense. In that scenario I do think we need to trade (yeah I know I know) Murray or White (whichever brings back the best future 1st) and possibly resign Mills while letting Rudy walk. Go ahead and start Luka and sign Otto or Batum to back him up. Upgrade the backup C with Theis and we've improved the team short term.

If DDR walks then I'd let Rudy go too. Go young and sign Ntilikina (I'd still trade Murray or White for whatever brings the best return). Upgrade backup C with someone who can shoot from 3 (Olynyk, Theis, maybe Bamba).. and add 3 vets on 2 year deals who can shoot to spread the court and relieve Luka and Keldon when they have growing pains. Mills, Batum, Fournier, and Otto would all be acceptable.

DDR isn’t going to sign a two year deal. The buzz was that the extension didn’t fall apart because of salary, it fell apart because of length, or lack thereof. DDR is 31, and this is his last payday.

[exstatic]

The 50m going between Lonnie, lauri markannen and patty mills

Lonnie’s money for next year is locked in, and won’t change. Any extension he signs won’t kick in until 2022, just like Whites doesn’t kick in until this fall, even though he signed it before this season.

[mo7888]

DDR isn’t going to sign a two year deal. The buzz was that the extension didn’t fall apart because of salary, it fell apart because of length, or lack thereof. DDR is 31, and this is his last payday.

I don't expect him to sign a 2 year deal either..

[exstatic]

What? This is a great draft. Same with next year. Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Jalen Suggs all have superstar ceilings, especially Cunningham. This could be the best draft since 2012 tbh.

I was unclear, but I thought the context would clear it up. This free agent class is crap.

[Robz4000]

I was unclear, but I thought the context would clear it up. This free agent class is crap.

Derp, I was focused on March Madness and they were talking about the draft

[Ice009]

I don't expect him to sign a 2 year deal either..

Do you think he'd take a 4 year deal with a team option on either year 3 or 4? Team option on year 3 would be my preference, as I still think he could get another big (not max) 4 year deal from another team at age 33 if the Spurs want to go in another direction by then.

[mo7888]

Do you think he'd take a 4 year deal with a team option on either year 3 or 4? Team option on year 3 would be my preference, as I still think he could get another big (not max) 4 year deal from another team at age 33 if the Spurs want to go in another direction by then.

I don't expect him to take less than the 4 year deal Hayward got... you might could get a 3 year deal if you upped the salary from around 30M to 35M/yr... but I'd rather move on..

[ElNono]

Getting rid of that loser is priceless, tbh

[Dejounte]

[Teamduncan21]

The 50m going between Lonnie, lauri markannen and patty mills

50m for 50 mills!

[Teamduncan21]

Do you think he'd take a 4 year deal with a team option on either year 3 or 4? Team option on year 3 would be my preference, as I still think he could get another big (not max) 4 year deal from another team at age 33 if the Spurs want to go in another direction by then.

Hope nothing more than 2. Unless its at cheap. They worked so hard to get space. Hope it doesn't get wasted

[timvp]

To explain the latest edit, I'll repost this comment from a different thread:

While LaMarcus Aldridge gave back a staggering $7.25 million to the Spurs (which will be “just” $5.8 million in his wallet after factoring in the league’s escrow cut)

Hollinger was in an NBA front office not too long ago so his info should be good. Aldridge's buyout math went off track because Woj decided to use a post-escrow number for an unknown reason (no one uses post-escrow numbers, tbh). He also worded it weird.

That makes it sound like the Spurs paid Aldridge $5.8 million to settle the amount owed to him. That's how Bobby Marks interpreted it...

Also, Bobby Marks didn't use post-escrow numbers.

So, back to square one, if the Spurs still owed Aldridge $8.5 million, it's now sounding like Aldridge only asked for $1.25 million more in the buyout, which left the Spurs will $7.25 million. If that's the case, the Spurs could have had ~$6.4 million in room below the luxury tax threshold after the Aldridge buyout and before the Dieng signing.

If you want to translate those numbers to post-escrow, Aldridge was owed $6.8 million and asked for exactly $1 million in the buyout, which left the $5.8 million that Woj referenced. That $1 million is such a round number that now I'm thinking this is what really happened

Pop: "Sorry to see you go, LA. How much do you want in your buyout?"
Aldridge: "Since you guaranteed my contract when you didn't have to, give me a million and we'll call it even."

[timvp]

^ If the latest assumptions are correct, Woj should have tweeted: "The cash buyout for LaMarcus Aldridge with the Spurs was $1M, sources tell ESPN."

Not only did he word it backwards, he inexplicably changed his figure to post-escrow.