The San Antonio Spurs have turned themselves into a premier free agent destination, and should manage to avoid the most common pitfalls that befall top markets.
There are some NBA players, like James Harden and Bradley Beal, who would much rather take massive amounts of money on mediocre teams than earn less in the name of team success.
And then there are guys like Victor Wembanyama, Chris Paul, Jalen Brunson, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson. All of these guys have track records of taking less to help their team win. Brunson and Wembanyama famously took recent pay cuts, and the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks met in the NBA Finals.
Clearly, taking pay cuts is the way to stack rings. After Wemby signed a five-year, $252 million rookie-scale contract extension, leaving around $50 million on the table, the Spurs have the perfect counter to future free agents.
Do You Think You're Better Than Wemby?
When Wembanyama took the pay cut, it wasn't with a single move in mind. Sure, the Spurs will eventually have to extend both Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, which won't be cheap, but those aren't the only moves they'll have to make.
Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, Carter Bryant, and even Julian Champagnie will be owed new deals or extensions in the coming seasons. On top of that, San Antonio will inevitably have to target free agents from other teams as well.
In the era of player empowerment, stars and superstars alike command more money than they're probably worth. Aaron Gordon, Franz Wagner, Michael Porter Jr., De'Aaron Fox, and Paul George are all great players, but none of them are worth the money owed to them.
As players try to convince the Spurs to pay them top dollar, the Spurs have a pretty simple counter: Are you better than Victor Wembanyama?
Other franchises would be quick to offer Castle, Harper, or other stars maximum contracts. In fact, the Spurs did just that with Fox last summer. However, now that their best player and face of the franchise has put his foot down, the Spurs don't have to entertain paying top dollar to good-not-great players.
Castle and Harper both understand that there is an expectation for them to take less, and they should be rewarded with All-Star nods and championships. The Spurs have made it clear where they stand, and no new signees will make more than Wemby.
