The San Antonio Spurs have been out of the playoffs for four years now but only started bottoming out in 2022-23. They’ve collected a great group of players relative to their draft selections like Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan, and their draft success in later parts of the first round goes back further. All they’ve lacked was a chance to draft a potential All-Star with a high lottery selection.
The Spurs finally got that chance after winning the NBA draft lottery and the right to select Victor Wembanyama. The generational prospect has an unprecedented combination of length and skill and could lead San Antonio back to title contention. The Spurs have several other priorities in this upcoming offseason such as retaining Tre Jones and utilizing cap space, but winning the lottery cleared the most important task in building a basketball team: getting a star.
Here is a preview of the 2023 offseason for the San Antonio Spurs.
Draft and state of the rebuild
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The Spurs had arguably one of the least talented teams in 2022-23. They committed to bottoming out after trading Dejounte Murray last summer to the Hawks for three first-round picks. That deal, as well as the preceding Derrick White trade and the recent Jakob Poeltl trade, helped the Spurs accumulate draft picks while decimating their veteran talent. They now have a surplus of 13 first-round picks over the next seven drafts, including their 2023 first.
Historically, it’s unrealistic to expect Wembanyama as a rookie to carry the Spurs from one of the league’s worst teams in the league back to the playoffs. He could be ready to make an immediate impact that raises the Spurs floor but the rest of the roster features many young players that still need time to develop. So far, all the recent first-round picks on the Spurs roster have shown promise of being rotation players and good starters in this league. Some of these players can make up an excellent supporting cast around Wembanyama.
The combination of surplus draft equity and having Wembanyama gives the Spurs the flexibility to be somewhat competitive instead of completely bottoming out again. They can give him enough key game reps to improve while focusing on the draft and overall internal development. It would make sense to keep their cap flexibility open while Wembanyama’s still on his rookie deal. The hope would be that the Spurs have a core and depth ready to compete in the playoffs by the time he gets to his second contract.
The Spurs project to have maximum cap space this offseason but won’t be a free agent destination, at least not right now. They can continue to have significant cap space over the next few summers provided they limit adding long-term contracts to their payroll. They could have maximum cap space in 2024 even after extending Devin Vassell and re-signing Tre Jones to lucrative deals.
Cap space
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The Spurs are heading into the offseason with 11 players and roughly $37 million in cap space if they renounce all free agent cap holds. They could generate a maximum of $43 million in space but that would require waiving the non-guaranteed $7.7 million salary of Zach Collins. However, that seems unlikely after the endorsement Collins got at the end of the season from head coach Gregg Popovich.
The Spurs have three players to whom they can tender qualifying offers and make restricted free agents: Romeo Langford, Tre Jones, and Sandro Mamukelashvili. Of those three, Langford is the least likely to receive one given his $6.9 million tender amount would cut into their cap space if he accepts it. Jones has a $5.2 million qualifying offer but the Spurs could rescind it after they presumably come to a verbal contract agreement with him in free agency. Such a maneuver would reduce his cap hold to the veteran minimum and give San Antonio an additional $3 million in cap space.
Like in previous offseasons, the Spurs seem likely to prioritize their cap space in ways that help expedite their rebuild. This would largely include participating in trades where they acquire draft equity with unwanted contracts attached. They could sign role players to value contracts that could potentially move later like they did with Doug McDermott. If they want to offer a large chunk of their space to a talented player, it would make sense to pursue one of the top young restricted free agents like Cameron Johnson or Austin Reaves.
It should be noted that while the new CBA won’t significantly impact them in the near future, it could impact their utilization of cap space. The Spurs went into the 2022-23 season with $27 million in cap space rolled over, which put them $14.6 million below the salary floor. They didn’t end up utilizing much of their cap space at all before the end of the season and ended up finishing below the floor. The new CBA has new measures that will likely prevent teams like the Spurs from rolling over that much cap space or even finishing below the floor again.
Now teams under the salary floor as of the first day of the regular season lose the difference between their cap space and the floor. This would’ve reduced the Spurs’ in-season cap space from $27 million to just $12.4 million. Teams below the floor before the regular season will also be required to pay the difference to the league and will no longer receive a distribution of luxury tax payments. The loss of cap space alone will likely motivate the Spurs to spend at least $25 million in cap space before the start of the season since that would get them to the salary floor.
Extension candidate: Devin Vassell
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Devin Vassell will be extension-eligible during the offseason. He made a significant leap this season despite only appearing in 38 games. In that short time, he was San Antonio’s second-best scorer averaging 18.5 points per game and 2.7 threes per game on 38.7 percent shooting. Had he played enough games he probably would’ve garnered serious consideration for Most Improved Player.
He has shown enough promise with his shooting and ability to create his own shot to garner a lucrative extension. The new rules will allow Vassell to extend for up to five years in a rookie-scale extension. An annual starting salary could be in the $18-20 million range, which would be comparable to recent contracts for guards like Collin Sexton, Gary Trent Jr., and Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Free agent: Tre Jones
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Tre Jones is San Antonio’s top free agent this summer. He will be eligible to receive a $5.2 million qualifying offer from the Spurs after meeting the starter’s criteria. He is still extension-eligible with the Spurs through June 30 and can avoid free agency by extending for up to four years, $58 million. The Spurs could look at adding a new starting point guard to aid the development of Wembanyama, but Jones would still have a significant role on the team if he becomes a reserve.
2023-24 SALARY SITUATION
Players rostered: 11
Guaranteed salaries: $88.5 million
Non-guaranteed salaries: $7.7 million
Total salary: $96.2 million
Luxury tax space: $65.8 million
First apron space: $71 million
Second apron space: $81.5 million
Spending power:
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Cap space: $37-43.3 million
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Room mid-level exception: $7,609,000
Keldon Johnson
Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
2023-24 salary: $20,000,000
Remaining salary guaranteed: $74,000,000 through 2026-27
Additional notes:
Doug McDermott
Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
2023-24 salary: $13,750,000
Remaining salary guaranteed: $13,750,000
Additional notes:
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Extension-eligible throughout 2023-24.
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$250,000 in annual unlikely incentives.
Devonte’ Graham
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2023-24 salary: $12,100,000
Remaining salary guaranteed: $14,950,000 through 2024-25
Additional notes:
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2024-25 salary is partially guaranteed for $2.9 million. Fully guaranteed if not waived by July 1, 2024.
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Extension-eligible during 2023 offseason.
Zach Collins
Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
2023-24 salary: $7,700,000
Remaining salary guaranteed: $0
Additional notes:
Khem Birch
Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
2023-24 salary: $6,985,000
Remaining salary guaranteed: $6,985,000
Additional notes:
Devin Vassell
Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports
2023-24 salary: $5,887,899
Remaining salary guaranteed: $5,887,899
Additional notes:
Jeremy Sochan
Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
2023-24 salary: $5,316,960
Remaining salary guaranteed: $17,986,231 through 2025-26
Malaki Branham
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
2023-24 salary: $3,071,880
Remaining salary guaranteed: $11,251,833 through 2025-26
Charles Bassey
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
2023-24 salary: $2,600,000
Remaining salary guaranteed: $2,600,000
Additional notes:
Blake Wesley
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
2023-24 salary: $2,504,640
Remaining salary guaranteed: $9,855,248 through 2025-26
Romeo Langford
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Cap hold: $16,902,771
Type of free agent: Bird (restricted)
Additional notes:
Tre Jones
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Cap hold: $5,216,324
Type of free agent: Bird (restricted)
Additional notes:
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Qualifying offer: $5,216,324.
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Can avoid free agency and extend with the Spurs by June 30 for up to four years, $58 million.
Sandro Mamukelashvili
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Cap hold: $2,189,698
Type of free agent: Non Bird (restricted)
Additional notes:
Keita Bates-Diop
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Cap hold: $1,989,698
Type of free agent: Bird (unrestricted)
Gorgui Dieng
(Photo by Logan Riely/NBAE via Getty Images)
Cap hold: $1,989,698
Type of free agent: Non Bird (unrestricted)
Dominick Barlow
Cap hold: $1,774,999
Type of free agent: Non Bird (restricted)
Julian Champagnie
Cap hold: $1,774,999
Type of free agent: Non Bird (restricted)
2023 Pick No. 1
2023-24 salary: $11,979,960
Remaining salary guaranteed: $54,397,531 through 2026-27
Additional notes: HoopsHype and ForTheWin’s draft expert Bryan Kalbrosky has Victor Wembanyama as the 1st overall selection in his most recent mock draft.
You can follow Yossi Gozlan (@YossiGozlan) on Twitter.
Story originally appeared on HoopsHype