San Antonio Spurs: 5 PG options in free agency for Tony Parker successor

4. Patty Mills

Patty Mills would qualify as the Spurs’ fallback plan if not for the fact that they’d likely have to renounce his rights to seriously pursue anyone on this list. Still, he’s an option worth considering if gutting the team’s depth becomes too messy a proposition for R.C. Buford and company.

The other players on this list can make the most money by re-signing with their respective teams. Meanwhile, Mills is a cheaper alternative and fan favorite who filled in admirably for TP in spots all season long. Though the 28-year-old Aussie’s upside has been limited to “elite backup point guard,” it’s possible a more team friendly option would be promoting an internal candidate.

Mills loves playing for this franchise, and perhaps he could be swayed into taking a slight discount to help the Spurs keep the core of a perennial 60-win team together.

That being said, Mills filling in for Parker once in a while is one thing; making the jump to full-time starter is another entirely. Though he’s an active defender, competent floor general and floor-spacer, his 21.9 minutes per game this season were a career high.

There’s no way to project how he’d handle starter’s minutes, even in San Antonio where that designation doesn’t matter as much. His 41.4 percent accuracy from three-point range would surely regress, as would the team’s win total with him and Murray manning the point.

The Spurs routinely turn overseas unknowns and D-League projects into productive NBA players, but this would be a stretch, even for them. Even worse, Mills may have played himself out of San Antonio’s price range on the open market, so unless unwavering Spurs loyalty strikes again this summer, Mills could easily sign with a team for anywhere from $12-20 million a year.

That may seem like a lot for a backup point guard who averaged 9.5 points and 3.5 assists per game this season, but don’t forget what Evan Turner (four years, $70 million), Tyler Johnson (four years, $50 million) or even Jamal Crawford (three years, $42 million) got in free agency last year.

A team like the Philadelphia 76ers or Brooklyn Nets could very easily swoop in with an offer that’s too attractive to turn down, especially if the Spurs concentrate their early free agency efforts on wooing one of the league’s premier point guards.

This option would require the least financial sacrifice, but it’s also the most underwhelming one for replacing TP, especially since Gregg Popovich opted to start the rookie Murray over Mills in order to keep his bench rotation intact. Simply put, the Spurs have never tried to force Mills into the usurper role at point guard to replace Parker, and $15-20 million a year might be too large a gamble to do so now.