Can the Spurs sign a star point guard?

The 2nd seeded San Antonio Spurs finished at 61–21 and a sweep in the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Kawhi Leonard managed to edge out guys like LeBron James and Kevin Durant to be one of the three MVP Finalists. The Spurs team payroll is expected to be $95,827,665. They have the 29th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. They are in need of a backup power forward, as their current backup is 24 year old Davis Bertans who averaged 4.5 points per game in his first year in the NBA in the 2016–17 year. The best pick for the Spurs at that selection is Semi Ojeleye. Ojeleye is a former Duke and SMU player as he is a small forward and a power forward at 6’7. He is a natural scorer who can shoot, as he shot 42.4% from behind the arc this 2016–17 season at SMU. He averaged 18.9 points per game and 6.8 rebounds in his junior campaign. Now he is a best fit at small forward, the Spurs can move their 6’9 small forward Kyle Anderson to the power forward spot off the bench. Going into the offseason, the 39 year old veteran Manu Ginobili is set to retire which is a big blow to the Spurs as he was very pivotal in the Spurs success in the second round of the 2017 Playoffs against the Houston Rockets. He brought both good offense and good defense against the Rockets. Ginobili has been a very good off the bench player for the Spurs in his career and also a very good shooter. Also Patty Mills is set to leave and he was their best option at point guard when Tony Parker suffered an ankle injury in the second round of the playoffs. Also Jonathan Simmons is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the 2017 offseason and he had a good year for the Spurs and was very good for them in the playoffs. I do expect the Spurs to try and resign him as he would fill the backup shooting guard role. Even though Tony Parker is 35 years old and just suffered a severe ankle injury, he did come out and say he won’t retire this year and that he wants to play for the Spurs for 20 years, meaning he would have to retire in 2022. He is set to return in 2018, most likely January. The Spurs have been linked to many free agent point guards, including Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, and George Hill as the big named ones. Now Chris Paul has reportedly drawn interest in joining the Spurs. He is an amazing floor general and would help benefit guys like Lamarcus Aldridge. George Hill is the likely option as he would be less money than both Lowry and Paul and he would provide a good scoring option for the Spurs as he did average 16.9 points per game. Paul is coming off an injured season but I believe he is fit for the Spurs offseason. For this to happen, Paul would have to decline a huge deal to stay in Los Angeles and they would have to make Pau Gasol decline his player option.. I highly doubt Pau Gasol declines his player option due to the fact their is no other team that would most likely pay him $16,197,500. If Paul does want to have chance at a rang, their is no doubt he leaves to go to the Spurs. He has been playing with Lob City for 6 years and they can’t even make it to the conference finals! Blake Griffin is likely to leave though, which gives Paul a worse offense. Now yes, with the new CBA rules a team can keep their players if their owner is willing to pay the luxury tax. Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, paid around $30,000,000 in luxury tax this year so that the Cavaliers could keep their team. I highly doubt the Spurs are willing to pay an absurd amount of money for luxury tax just to sign Chris Paul and resign Jonathan Simmons. If you didn’t know, Chris Paul is the head of the Players Association. Lately, the Players Association signed this deal that would allow players that have been with their teams for about 5 years and have been All Star’s or All NBA players, they can sign a huge max contract. To me, it just hints that Chris Paul signed this deal so he can get about $35,000,000 for 5 years in this upcoming offseason if he decides to stay with the Clippers. If Paul wants to join the Spurs, he would lose about $70,000,000. Yes $70,000,000. You can’t get that money back. Basically, that rules out most chances of the Spurs being able to sign Chris Paul. I believe the best option for the Spurs is to resign Jonathan Simmons and sign George Hill in the offseason. Most players can do well and benefit off of Coach Gregg Popovich’s system and I believe Hill will do so.

Now back to the question. Can the Spurs get a star point guard this offseason? If they are willing to make a lot of moves and maybe even gut out their roster just to clear cap space to sign Paul. If they don’t want to gut their roster, then they’d have to pay around $30,000,000 for luxury tax. I doubt the Spurs are willing to gut their roster and pay an absurd amount to sign a player that may not even lead them past the Warriors. I think the best fit for the Spurs is to let Ginobili retire, and sign Jonathan Simmons and George Hill. Thanks for reading my article and I really appreciate it!