5 Bold San Antonio Spurs trades ahead of the deadline
By Cal Durrett
San Antonio Spurs: Trade #4
The Miami Heat find themselves in a similar position to the Mavs in that they own one of the worst contracts in the NBA. Heat forward Duncan Robinson is owed $57 million over the next three seasons, and like with the Mavericks and Bertans, the Heat will likely try to get out of that contract before the trade deadline.
Fortunately, the same general framework of the Mavericks deal could be applied to this one as well. The Spurs could trade Richardson to the Heat for Robinson, the Heat’s 2025 first-round pick, and a 2027 first-round pick swap. Although Robinson has a worse contract than Bertans, he’s also better and could be a reliable contributor on a rebuilding roster.
In fact, he may have value in San Antonio and become a trade asset in the future. Even if he doesn’t, his contract isn’t quite as bad as it seems. The fifth and final year of his contract has only $9 million guaranteed out of $19 million, meaning that he is owed closer to $45 million overall.
That’s a much more manageable amount for San Antonio since they’ll likely still be rebuilding in the next couple of seasons and won’t need to fully utilize their cap space unless they draft Victor Wembanyama.
Additionally, they would continue loading up on future assets by adding their 14th first-round pick in the next seven drafts and their third pick swap. Despite his expiring contract, the Mavericks would benefit from adding a 3-and-D wing, and they’d have full Bird Rights, allowing them to re-sign him even though they’d be over the salary cap.