Did you feel a jolt this afternoon? A nation's celebration of Independence Day was interrupted by a seismic shift in the NBA when former Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge tweeted that he has agreed to sign with the San Antonio Spurs as an unrestricted free agent next week when teams can begin signing players after the league's moratorium period concludes.
This is the score in free agency the Spurs have dreamed of since their elimination from this past spring's playoffs at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers. And presuming San Antonio is able to bring back Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili at below-market contracts, it sets up the Spurs as the biggest threats to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference and possibly even co-favorites with the defending champs.
How San Antonio landed Aldridge
The Spurs started planning for today last fall, when they chose not to extend the contract of forward Kawhi Leonard. San Antonio took some risk that Leonard might look for a shorter offer sheet as a restricted free agent, but the trust built by the organization convinced Leonard to hang tight. That allowed the Spurs to head into this summer with Leonard's small cap hold ($7.2 million) on the books rather than the starting salary of the five-year maximum extension he agreed to Wednesday (still yet to be determined, but somewhere around $16 million).
San Antonio also took advantage of a small cap hold for wing Danny Green ($7.6 million), who also agreed to a new contract (four years, $45 million) that he won't sign until after the Spurs sign Aldridge. Trading Tiago Splitter's $8.5 million cleared more room under the cap.