I'm not sure Samanic has a "much higher" upside. Seriously, Clarke would've been the second-best big on the Spurs the last few years. It's not that easy to get better players, and he can still improve quite a bit as he adapts mentally to the game and gains more strength. I don't want to really go through the whole debate again, but the idea that Clarke is for now and Sam is for later is not necessarily true at all. That goes double for this assumption that Clarke's advantage is going to be gone in just one season or that the team no longer needs a player in that mold to make them a playoff contender. You have folks trying to trade Murray-plus to give Jerami Grant $16 Million a year, and, do I have to say it? Fine. Clarke outplayed Grant by a huge margin.
Again I'm rooting for Sam, but it has to be a "wait and see" thing with him. He has a long way to go before he's ready to save any team.