2018-19 NBA Season Preview: San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs did not have the type of season that a Spurs' fan would have wanted, losing to the stacked Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs. Last season was the first time since 1997 that the Spurs ended the season with a losing record on the road. Their unique streak of 20 straight seasons of 50 wins or more, ended with a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
However, the Spurs made it to the post-season for the 21st consecutive year clinching the 7th seed. This despite, missing their All-Star SF Kawhi Leonard who only featured in nine games, a career-low because of a right quad injury. This off-season, the Western Conference became more stacked with LeBron James' move to join the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Spurs have won their last NBA title in 2014 when they beat the Miami Heat in 5 games. They have enjoyed limited success since then, though they never failed to make the playoffs. After 4-year hiatus, Is this finally going to be the year when Spurs win it all?
Read on to find out:
Offseason Activity
In the off-season, Kawhi demanded a trade out of San Antonio citing trust issues. The disgruntled 2014 Finals MVP was then traded to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for All-Star DeMar DeRozan. As part of the deal, Raptors received Danny Green while the Spurs received Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round pick.
After featuring for the Spurs for 17 seasons, Tony Parker signed a two-year deal with the Charlotte Hornets. Manu Ginobili, who was the second-oldest active player in the league, announced his retirement after an amazing 16 seasons in the NBA. With Manu's announcement, Spurs' "Big 3" era officially ended.
In the 2018 NBA draft, the Spurs selected guard Lonnie Walker with the 18th overall pick. The also selected Chimezie Metu, PF out of USC, with the 49th overall pick. In Free agency, David Bertans agreed to re-sign with the team for a 2-years, $14.5 million contract. Rudy Gay (1 year, $10 million) and Bryn Forbes (2 year, $6 million) too agreed to return to the team.
Spurs also added Marco Belinelli (2 years, $12 million), Dante Cunningham (1 year, $2.5 million) and Quincy Pondexter (1-year deal) to the roster. Joffrey Lauvergne and Kyle Anderson walked away in the free agency while Brandon Paul was waived.
The Spurs did all they could as an organization to get better, this team is a lot different than the last season's and looks good on paper. Trading Kawhi for DeMar is a right decision given the fact that Kawhi himself demanded he be traded. It will be really interesting to see how this team performs under Pop's coaching but do not expect a lot out of this team, yet.