With the October 31st deadline having
come and gone for a contract extension for Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard both sides
have seemed to have walked away from negotiations. Spurs fans are assuredly
throwing their hands up at their franchise’s stubbornness in not paying the
youngest finals MVP in league history (tied with Magic, 1980). Kawhi is a vital
two-way player, he possesses an unrelenting motor and work ethic and he’s the
definition of modest. He would seem to be the ideal piece for which the Spurs
would want to build it’s future around. As long as San Antonio’s big three are suiting
up they will likely garner attention as the fulcrums of the team but many would
argue San Antonio would not have been anywhere near the finals without Leonard.
A big part
of what has made San Antonio so special is that their stars have taken less to
stay together. Duncan is on a contract right now paying him $10 million a year, Ginobili just resigned for $7
million, Parker who is the youngest of the three is signed through the
2017-2018 season with his biggest salary $15.4 coming in the final year. While
these numbers are certainly high they are far less than any could have made had
they entered into the free market of talent hungry NBA teams. They are far less
than Kobe signed for just a year ago ($48 million over two years), and less
than what southwest division rival Houston have paid stars like Dwight Howard
($21.4) and James Harden ($14.7), even Trevor Ariza ($8.6) is making more than
Ginobili this season. It would seem that if Kawhi were to truly buy into the
Spurs system he would sacrifice to allow the franchise to bring in help after
Duncan and Ginobili presumably retire after this season.
Kawhi and
his people believe he is worth more, that if he were to seek a max contract he
could likely obtain one in the open market, which isn’t entirely untrue.
Kawhi’s talents would certainly be valuable to any team that doesn’t possess a
Paul George or Lebron James. Gregg Popovich has been touting him the future of
the franchise for years now, but there are those that believe Kawhi is simply a
result of Pop’s system and that he wouldn’t have flourished with any other
organization. Regardless of how you feel about Kawhi’s ability to work on
another team it is a fact that he is extremely valuable to the Spurs and their
future.
Another
interesting wrinkle in the story is the future of the NBA’s CBA and thus the
league’s salary cap. The NBA’s newly signed TV deal nearly tripled the previous
deal’s money causing the cap, which is figured as a percentage of the previous season’s
revenue, to be projected to rise as much as $20 million in the next two
seasons. This spike in money coming into the league has caused many players
with the right combination of leverage and foresight to enter into free agency
in two years when front offices will presumably have money burning holes in
their pockets. It will certainly prove lucrative for any player who has proven
their value in the previous seasons but it will also make some of the more
questionable long-term deals signed this summer or next summer seem like great
bargains. This though only further begs the question; what does a guy have to
do to hit pay dirt in San Antonio?
With Kawhi
seeming to be a perfect fit for the Spurs and vice-versa it would seem like a
no brainer to lock him up for the next five years, especially when a max deal
would look like a great bargain for the last three of those years. So why have
the Spurs insisted on playing hardball? Perhaps the organization is waiting for
the contracts of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili to expire and they presumably
retire, freeing up a large amount of cap space next summer. If Kawhi were to have
signed an extension it would put his contract on the books for next summer
digging into the possible capital the Spurs would have to go after other free
agents next summer. If the Spurs wait to
sign Leonard in restricted FA, they end up matching a potentially higher max
contract ($117 over five seasons) than what he was asking for this off-season
($89 mil over five seasons). By waiting though the Spurs will have the extra
cash available, around $8.2 for Kawhi and then the $10.3 from Duncan’s contract
and $7 from Ginobili’s, to go after another max level guy or pick up a few
solid mid-tier pieces to try and fill in the holes left by Manu and Tim’s
likely retirements. San Antonio could then use Leonard’s Bird rights to extend
over the salary cap to resign him to a max deal.
With some
big free agents hitting the market next summer that would fit well with what
the Spurs do, Paul Milsap and LaMarcus Aldridge come to mind, it makes sense
that the Spurs are attempting to hoard as much cash as possible to go after
another big piece to insert into their frenzied style of offense. Holding out
another year will also give Kawhi a higher pay day so as long as there is no
hurt feelings on either side it would seem beneficial for both parties to wait
until next summer.