Brazilian center Tiago Splitter has been a big part of a Spurs team who won the championship last season. Playing next to Tim Duncan in the frontcourt, Splitter has evolved into a solid defender and rebounder who fit well in Popovich’s system.
This year was a bit different for Splitter, however, as he dealt with a calf injury towards the end of the season, which seemed to bother him come playoff-time, where he wasn’t very effective for the Spurs. The Spurs’ system, which had brought them to the finals in each of the last two seasons, failed this season. They fell to the Clippers in the first round. It was a marvelous series, but the Clippers ended up on top.
With the first-round exit, the Spurs will most likely look into shuffling around the roster. Splitter currently has a lucrative deal with San Antonio, and has 2 years left on his deal worth a combined $16.75 million. The Spurs will most likely sign Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard to a max deal this summer, which would leave the team with limited cap space to go after free agents and/or potentially resign Tim Duncan. To clear up some of that cap space, the team could consider trading Splitter away.
Following from Marc Stein of ESPN.com:
“The working assumption nonetheless persists that the Spurs, with maestro executive R.C. Buford as their offseason point man, will manufacture at least $20 million in salary-cap space this summer to go after Aldridge — or Memphis’ Marc Gasol — even if Leonard is maxed and Duncan returns.
How?
One scenario on the personnel grapevine gaining steam is the notion that the Spurs could elect to explore the possibility of dealing away Tiago Splitter to create more financial flexibility. Splitter has two years left on his contract valued at just under $17 million and is quietly regarded as a key contributor in San Antonio given how well he fits as a frontcourt sidekick next to Duncan. But if you’re the Spurs — and if the increasingly loud rumbles about Aldridge having San Antonio as the preferred destination atop his wish list prove true — examining Splitter’s trade market might suddenly become unavoidable.”
2 of the Spurs’ top targets this summer, Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge, are big men. This would make Splitter’s presence on the roster redundant and unnecessary. If the Spurs could convince Gasol or Aldridge to come to San Antonio in free agency, trading away Splitter might be a necessity.
