Spurs center Zach Collins will be with the team next season, general manager Brian Wright told reporters on Thursday night.
As Andrew Lopez of ESPN tweets, that means Collins’ $7.7MM salary for 2023/24 will become fully guaranteed. June 23 is the last day the Spurs can waive Collins if they want to avoid being on the hook for that money, but it sounds like the team has no plans to take that route.
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Collins, 25, appeared in 63 games for San Antonio in 2022/23, making 26 starts and averaging 22.9 minutes per contest. For the season, he averaged 11.6 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 2.9 APG. He increased those numbers across the board following the February trade of Jakob Poeltl, putting up 16.5 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and 3.8 APG in his final 19 contests.
Wright’s comments on Thursday night come as no surprise, given that head coach Gregg Popovich suggested back in April that Collins would be the Spurs’ starting center in 2023/24.
Of course, Popovich made his remarks before he knew San Antonio would be adding Victor Wembanyama, which certainly changes the makeup of the team’s frontcourt. But Collins still figures to play a prominent role for the Spurs going forward. He underwent a minor procedure on his finger at the end of the season but should be good to go for training camp in the fall.
Collins will become eligible for a contract extension next month and will reach unrestricted free agency in 2024 if he doesn’t sign a new deal before then.