2019 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far
Trey Lyles: 2 years, $11 million (San Antonio Spurs)
Told the Trey Lyles deal is a 2-yr, roughly $11M deal with #Spurs .. @TheAthleticNBA
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) July 12, 2019
At a meager $11 million price tag, this is a decent pivot for the San Antonio Spurs. Trey Lyles is not as good an addition as Marcus Morris would’ve been, but he skews on the younger side, which is where this franchise will be focusing next once the LaMarcus Aldridge-DeMar DeRozan era eventually grinds itself out.
There’s no way of telling whether Lyles will even be around for that, since this is only a two-year agreement, but after wasting away on the Denver Nuggets’ bench last year, hopefully Gregg Popovich will find a way to properly utilize him behind Aldridge and Jakob Poeltl.
After posting 9.9 points and 4.8 rebounds in 19.9 minutes per game on .491/.381/.706 shooting splits in his first season in Denver, Lyles’ production took a dive in comparable minutes in 2018-19, falling to 8.5 points and 3.8 rebounds per game on .418/.255/.698 shooting. Still, he’s a 23-year-old stretch-big with potential, so you can bet Pop will find a way to coax it out of him.
Grade: B