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

2. Kyle Lowry

Up until this point, the point guards on this list would require more financial and roster sacrifice than they’re actually worth, especially for a team that won 61 games, reached the conference finals and had a 20-point lead on the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 until Leonard got hurt.

However, if the Spurs were able to sign Kyle Lowry or the next player on this list, they might seriously consider making the cost-cutting moves that would be required to do so.

The reservations about Lowry are legitimate, with the playoffs serving as the proverbial midnight that always strikes on his Cinderella regular seasons. The Toronto Raptors also have the inside track to re-sign him, being able to offer a five-year max worth more than $200 million, compared to a four-year, $152 million deal from outside suitors.

That being said, if winning — and avoiding LeBron James in the playoffs for once — is the priority, the Spurs should top Lowry’s potential free agency landing spots. He’d be trading one juggernaut for another with the Warriors out West, but the Spurs just won 61 games with a 35-year-old Tony Parker as their starter. Just imagine what Pop could do with a top-10 point guard like Lowry.

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The cost of such a move would be extensive, as we’ve already covered. In addition to Gasol, Mills, Dedmon and Lee being goners, the Spurs would also have to move Danny Green (trade) and Tony Parker (stretch and waive provision) in a salary-slashing deal — all while hoping Simmons waited to sign an offer sheet from another team, so they could go over the cap to match a deal and retain him.

Trading an injured Parker — even if the Spurs actually considered such a heartless move — would be impossible, leaving Green as the salary dump candidate. His defense and three-point touch would be missed, and lining up deals for both Green and Gasol without taking back any salary would be a sizable hurdle in its own right. They could trade Green and use the stretch and waive provision on both Parker and Gasol, but doing that to TP seems unlikely.

However, if Lowry were to express serious interest, a Big Three with Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge would be tantalizing. As the Warriors and Cavaliers have shown, super-teams are the only way to keep up these days. A move like this would put the Spurs on the same trajectory.

His playoff demons and injury history are red flags, but on a team that historically thrives in the postseason and strategically rests players to keep them fresh, they wouldn’t be such large concerns. A sign-and-trade is another potential option, but it’s hard to see any of San Antonio’s aging role players being of interest without youth or draft picks attached.

Adding Kyle Lowry would be a coup for the Spurs, but it would require substantial sacrifices to the team’s depth. For our purposes, there’s one similar option that would be a little more worthwhile compared to Lowry.