San Antonio Spurs: A Different Kind of Trade Deadline Silence

San Antonio Spurs players stayed put, but the trade deadline ushered in the eventual end of the R.C. Buford era.

As expected, the San Antonio Spurs stood pat at the 2016 NBA Trade Deadline. Despite a recent rash of injuries, general manager R.C. Buford and head coach/president of basketball operations Gregg Popovich decided to ride the current roster all the way to the playoffs. In that regard, the Spurs conducted business as usual.

The front office, though, was another story. Assistant general manager Sean Marks interviewed for the general manager position with the Brooklyn Nets, who essentially fired GM Billy King and definitely axed former head coach Lionel Hollins over a month ago.  

Conflicting rumors abounded regarding Marks actually accepting the position, though it was finally revealed that the Nets and Spurs had been involved in a game of one-upsmanship to retain Marks.

In the end, Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov won, and Marks will be headed across the Williamsburg Bridge to try and revive a team that desperately needs a makeover.

It is widely anticipated that Marks will hire Ettore Messina, the current head assistant coach for the Spurs, as the new head coach of the Nets.

Messina coached CSKA Russia when Prokhorov owned it, so the Nets owner is familiar with what Messina brings to the table. It is also no secret that Prokhorov is among the many who admire and want to emulate the Spurs.

Should Messina pack his bags for the Tri-State area, we could very well see the creation of “Spurs North” — to join “Spurs East,” better known as the Atlanta Hawks. The Western Conference already has the original Spurs, and Spurs 2.0 in the Golden State Warriors (hi, Steve Kerr). It’s only fitting that the wealth is spread in the Eastern Conference.

Beneath all this front office hoopla is a sobering thought: this is the beginning of the end of the Buford era. When Marks was offered the Nets GM position, it was rumored that the Spurs were working on increasing his financial package, among other things, to keep him in the Alamo City.

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The franchise had great plans for Marks, perhaps to eventually take over from Buford whenever the latter chose to retire. Instead, Marks took the more immediate opportunity to be the team general now, instead of later — however long “later” is.

Buford is in the same conversation as team captain Tim Duncan and spark plug Manu Ginobili: you know the end is coming; you just don’t know when. With the teams’ sustained success, it’s hard to consider that they would ever leave, or that things would ever change.

Popovich, before promising to stay in San Antonio to coach LaMarcus Aldridge, would have been in this group too. It’s an uncomfortable reminder that the model franchise of the NBA could soon be just another team if the proper heir(s) are not in place.

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The Spurs are the Spurs, though, and it never helps to count them out of anything. The long game was built for the Silver and Black. Now that Marks has moved on to what he deemed as greener pastures, the onus is on Buford et al to make sure that the Spurs organization will remain at the top of the NBA food chain for decades to come, once Buford steps down.

I just hope that day is a long way off.