2017 NBA free agency grades: Manu Ginobili returning to Spurs

Manu Ginobili, one of the league’s most beloved figures, is returning for another season. How does his deal grade out for the San Antonio Spurs?

Manu Ginobili is a steady force for the San Antonio Spurs in an ever-changing league. As the NBA swirls into greater and greater spirals of chaos, the Spurs are an organization that moves as it wants to, and no other organization has lifelong franchise stalwarts quite like them.

This NBA offseason has seen an unprecendented amount of player movement. Jimmy Butler now plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Oklahoma City Thunder now employ Paul George. Paul Millsap, Gordon Hayward, Chris Paul and Brook Lopez have all changed teams. Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony are both on the precipice of changing teams. And Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas may or may not be swapping teams.

The San Antonio Spurs are certainly not sitting out NBA offseasons, as they take part in trades and free agency. Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge are both former All-Stars who have joined the team in recent seasons. But more so than any other organization, the Spurs like to keep their own, and no team has as many stars who never don another NBA jersey.

Mani Ginobili first joined the Spurs in 2002, already a well-known international player and Argentina National Team member. Stories have been told of how his bold and relaxed on-court decision-making frustrated head coach Gregg Popovich…and was also key to the Spurs turning a title team into a dynasty.

Fifteen years later, it was all but a certainty that if Ginobili wished to play his 16th season in the NBA, that it would be for Pop and the Spurs. The two sides agreed in principle to a deal back in July.

Whether there was more negotiating to be done or whether the two sides merely took their time, the contract details finally rolled out in late August.

At his best, Ginobili was the league’s best bench player for years, and he saw his fair share of starts as well. For seven straight seasons, whether playing as a starter or a super-sub, Ginobili averaged at least 15 points per game for the Spurs.

Those days have moved on, and Ginobili plays a different sort of a role on the Spurs now. He plays less than 20 minutes per game, conserving his body to both extend his career and stay fresh for the postseason. For the Spurs, more than any of team, the regular season is merely a stop on the way to the playoffs. Ginobili has never played an NBA season and not qualified for the postseason.

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Even at 40, Ginobili has much to offer the Spurs. As a locker room mentor and proponent of the culture that has sustained and characterized this franchise for the last two decades, he and Tony Parker instill the value of the “Spurs way.”

On the court, Ginobili has something to offer as well. Last season he averaged 7.5 points in 18.5 minutes per contest. Per 36 minutes, those numbers translate to 14.4 points, along with 5.0 assists and 2.3 steals.

When the veteran guard was on the court, the Spurs were an excellent team. According to ESPN‘s Real Plus-Minus, Ginobili was the third-best shooting guard in the league, behind just Jimmy Butler and James Harden.

In the playoffs his value was highlighted after veteran point guard Tony Parker went down with a leg injury and Ginobili effectively ran the offense for the second unit as Patty Mills moved into the starting lineup. He even closed multiple games for the Spurs, and secured a win for the team with an exceptional defensive play on MVP runner-up James Harden.

Manu Ginobili will no longer be a key cog in the Spurs’ rotation, but he is still a vital part of this organization. At just $5 million over two seasons, the cost is not high to keep him around and continue the culture that has won this team so many games over the past two seasons.

With the moves the team has made this offseason, it doesn’t look like cap space will be a valuable resource either this summer or next. Thus the opportunity cost to bring Ginobili back is lessened even further.

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In the end, if Ginobili was interested in returning it seemed a certainty the Spurs would have him back. That assumption became reality, in a low-risk deal that fits how the Spurs have been run for the past 20 years. This deal made sense for both parties, and the league is better for having Manu Ginobili around for at least one more season.

Grade: A