Hoops Rumors Originals News & Rumors

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2025 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the San Antonio Spurs.

Free agent signings

• Luke Kornet: Four years, $40,700,000. Third year partially guaranteed ($2.55MM). Fourth year non-guaranteed. Signed using non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
• Jordan McLaughlin: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception. Waived right to veto trade.
• Lindy Waters III: One year, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($500K). Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Adam Flagler: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Micah Potter: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

• Acquired the Kings’ 2030 second-round pick and cash ($2.5MM) from the Pacers in exchange for the draft rights to Kam Jones (No. 38 pick).
• Acquired Kelly Olynyk from the Wizards in exchange for Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley, and either the Mavericks’, Thunder’s, or Sixers’ 2026 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable).

Draft picks

• 1-2: Dylan Harper
  • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $56,140,113).
• 1-14: Carter Bryant
  • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $23,419,858).

Two-way signings

• Harrison Ingram
  • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee.
• David Jones Garcia
  • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
• Riley Minix
  • One year, $85,300 partial guarantee.

Departed/unsigned free agents

• Charles Bassey (unsigned)
• Bismack Biyombo (unsigned)
• David Duke Jr. (unsigned)
• Sandro Mamukelashvili (Raptors)
• Chris Paul (Clippers)

Other roster moves

• Signed De’Aaron Fox to a four-year, maximum-salary veteran contract extension that begins in 2026/27. Projected value of $222,394,368.

Salary cap situation

• Operating over the cap ($154.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($187.9MM).
• Carrying approximately $179.9MM in salary.
• Hard-capped at $195,945,000.
• Portion of non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($3,104,000) available.
• Full bi-annual exception ($5,134,000) available.

The offseason so far

It’s the sort of champagne problem that any NBA team would probably welcome, but the two best things to happen to the Spurs this year have created something of a redundancy on their roster, resulting in some uncertainty about whether this is what their core will look like going forward or whether a trade will be necessary to balance the depth chart.

The first of the Spurs’ big breaks came in January, when De’Aaron Fox made it clear to the Kings that he wouldn’t be signing an extension with the team and had just one trade destination on his wish list: San Antonio. With some leverage in trade talks, the Spurs were able to get a pretty good deal on Fox, acquiring him for a package made up of bench players, two first-round picks, and five second-round selections. Seven draft picks isn’t nothing, but those two first-rounders were far less than it cost to acquire non-All-Stars like Mikal Bridges and Desmond Bane on the trade market in recent years.

San Antonio’s second fortunate turn of events occurred at the draft lottery, when the club entered the night in the No. 8 slot and came away with the second overall pick. With Cooper Flagg considered the consensus top pick in this year’s draft class, that put the Spurs in position to nab Rutgers guard Dylan Harper at No. 2 in June’s draft.

The only problem? Fox, Harper, and reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle are all guards who thrive with the ball in their hands and who haven’t developed a reliable outside shot. That doesn’t mean they’re not valuable players — all three absolutely are. But given their overlapping skill sets, it remains an open question whether the Spurs can make it work with all of them playing big minutes (and at least two of them sharing the court for most of the game).

That question fueled speculation that the Spurs might dangle that No. 2 overall pick in trade talks to bolster their roster on the wing or in the frontcourt, passing up Harper and simply rolling with Fox and Castle in the backcourt. But Harper – who almost certainly would’ve been the No. 1 pick if he were in last year’s class – was ultimately too good a prospect to pass on.

The Spurs clearly envision Harper as a part of their long-term future, and Castle is in that group too after earning Rookie of the Year honors this spring. But what about Fox? He entered the offseason on an expiring contract, with the ability to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026. Would the Spurs be more reluctant to extend him after drafting Harper? Would adding Harper at least make them more inclined to draw a hard line in extension negotiations with Fox?

The answer to both of those questions was no. Immediately after his six-month restriction lifted in early August, Fox signed a four-year, maximum-salary extension that will keep him under contract even beyond the end of Castle’s and Harper’s rookie deals.

It wasn’t really a shocking outcome. The Spurs and Fox likely planned on that extension back when the trade with Sacramento was made, and it would’ve been bad business for the club not to hold up its end of the bargain for an All-Star caliber player who essentially forced his way to San Antonio. But it puts the Spurs in a fascinating position going forward and will make their backcourt chemistry one of the most interesting Western Conference storylines to monitor in 2025/26.

While the Harper pick and the Fox extension were the two most meaningful transactions of the summer for the Spurs, the team also made a pair of notable moves to bolster its frontcourt around rising star Victor Wembanyama, who missed the last two months of the 2024/25 season after being diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. San Antonio used most of its non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Luke Kornet, then later sent a pair of former first-round picks (Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley) to Washington along with a second-round pick for Kelly Olynyk.

There may have been some sticker shock when word broke that Kornet – who had never earned more than $2.5MM in a season – signed a four-year, $41MM deal. But only the first two years are fully guaranteed, and Kornet easily outplayed his minimum-salary deal with Boston last season. The Celtics had a +14.9 net rating during Kornet’s 1,361 minutes of action — no Boston player had an individual net rating higher than that.

While Kornet gives the Spurs another solid rebounder and defender in the middle, Olynyk will add more shooting to their frontcourt. A career 37.1% three-point shooter, Olynyk has been even better in recent years, making nearly 40.0% of his outside attempts since the start of the 2022/23 season. With Western Conference powers increasingly leaning into double-big lineups, San Antonio now has more options to deploy that sort of look, given the ability of both Olynyk and Wembanyama to stretch the floor and play outside the paint on offense.

Of course, it’s worth noting that the one making those lineup decisions on the Spurs’ sidelines will be Mitch Johnson, who took over head coaching duties last fall after Gregg Popovich suffered a stroke and was given the job on a full-time basis this spring. It’s the first coaching change in nearly three decades in San Antonio, but all indications last season were that Johnson had the full support of everyone within the organization, from players to management to Popovich himself.

Finally, while Harper will be the Spurs rookie under the spotlight this season, we should mention the fact that the team actually had two lottery picks and used the second one, No. 14 overall, to draft Arizona wing Carter Bryant. Bryant struggled in six Summer League games, making just 28.6% of his shots from the field (25.8% of his threes) and turning the ball over 3.2 times in just 24.1 minutes per game, but he’s considered a strong three-and-D prospect who could become a long-term fixture in San Antonio.

Up next

The Spurs have 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with guard Lindy Waters III on a minimum-salary deal that includes a $500K partial guarantee. Even if the team intends to carry Waters on its regular season roster – which seems likely – there’s an open roster spot available, and adding a 15th man wouldn’t come with any tax or apron concerns.

If San Antonio does intend to fill that roster spot before the season begins, it could make sense to add one more big man for depth purposes, given that Wembanyama is coming off a health scare and Olynyk isn’t exactly a true center. For what it’s worth, former Spur Charles Bassey remains unsigned and has been reasonably productive in limited minutes for San Antonio.

I expect any major trade activity to take place closer to the deadline rather than before the regular season, but Keldon Johnson and – to a lesser extent – Devin Vassell have been frequent subjects of trade speculation and are worth keeping an eye on going forward.

Harrison Barnes (veteran) and Jeremy Sochan (rookie scale), meanwhile, are the most noteworthy extension candidates on San Antonio’s roster. At age 33, Barnes may not be part of the Spurs’ long-term plans, but he has been an iron man in recent years, having not missed a game since December 2021, and was a full-time starter last season. I wouldn’t expect him to sign another long-term deal, but a one- or two-year extension might work for both sides.

While Barnes has long established his skill set and his value to an NBA team, Sochan is a little more difficult to evaluate. The 22-year-old has been used in different roles across his three years in the league and had multiple extended injury absences last season. He’s a good defender and a solid rebounder for his size, but he’s not all that dangerous on offense, scoring almost exclusively from inside the arc.

When Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report previewed rookie scale extension candidates in the spring, he cited Moses Moody and his three-year, $37.5MM extension as a possible comparable for Sochan and projected a three-year, $33MM extension for the Spurs forward. That sounds about right to me, but whether Sochan would accept that sort of offer remains to be seen. It’s possible it will take something a bit more lucrative to keep him off the 2026 restricted free agent market.