How do the San Antonio Spurs do it?
While most teams are losing players to free agency or paying out maximum deals to hold on to them, the Spurs manage to keep the players they need and do it at a discount.
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The latest in the trend is shooting guard Danny Green. On Wednesday news broke that Green and the Spurs had agreed to the framework of a four-year, $45 million contract that would keep one of the league’s best three-point shooters in San Antonio. This was just hours after the Spurs and forward Kawhi Leonard had agreed to a five-year, $90 million maximum contract extension.
Sources: Danny Green has agreed to a 4 year, $45 million deal with the Spurs
— Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) July 1, 2015
The move means that San Antonio will be able to continue to retool the Spurs around these two as well as pursue free agents such as LaMarcus Aldridge.
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Green had a career year last season, averaging 11.7 points, 2 assists and 4.2 rebounds a game and converted on almost 42 percent of his three-point attempts. Green has also made a name for himself as one of the NBA’s better perimeter defenders and is known as one of the league’s best “3-and-D” guards.
Green has become a key part of what Gregg Popovich has built in San Antonio after a disappointing start with the Cleveland Cavaliers and someone many see as part of the Spurs’ future once Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili finally retire.
Someday.
If the Spurs can actually land Aldridge, they would immediately go to the top of many analysts lists as a team to watch next season. With the addition of Aldridge’s 23.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1 block per game to a returning core of Duncan, Ginobili and Tony Parker, there is no reason to think the Spurs wouldn’t seriously challenge for a spot in the NBA Finals in 2016.
The fact that Green took less money to stay in San Antonio compared to what he could have signed for on the free agent market speaks volumes about the loyalty the players have for the franchise and city. The only other team Green met with was the Detroit Pistons even though several organization were very interested in signing him, including the New York Knicks and Sacramento Kings.
So how does San Antonio do it? How do they convince players like Green and Duncan, who could earn max contracts elsewhere, to take less money to stay put?
Most of it has to do with the culture that the Spurs have built around themselves. In a league where it seems like team is a distant second on the priority list to individual stats and achievements, the Spurs have emphasized the opposite. Each and every member of that Spurs roster knows that personal accolades are great, but winning an NBA Championship and holding the Larry O’Brien trophy not once but multiple times will beat that out every day and twice on Sundays.
While most sports franchises go through periods of success followed by stretches of rebuilding, the Spurs have seemingly been an elite-level team for what feels like forever. If anyone is looking for an answer why they should probably speak to Danny Green, because he obviously understands what it takes to play with the best.
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