The San Antonio Spurs and LaMarcus Aldridge mutually part ways. The season has been strange and although the Spurs find themselves in Playoffs contention the 7x NBA All-Star will move on from San Antonio. A fixture in the NBA since he came to the league, Aldridge will perhaps move on to a team that is more championship quality. Sham Charania of The Athletic reported the news.
Spurs and LaMarcus Aldridge have mutually agreed to part ways and are working on resolution, coach Gregg Popovich says.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 11, 2021
In Spurs fashion, this was a very low drama decision, at least as far as anyone outside the organization knows. Aldridge spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Portland Trailblazers after being drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the 2nd overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft. An All-Rookie selection, Aldridge flourished in Portland. In the 2015-16 season, Aldridge signed with the Spurs and continued his great play. In his second season with the Spurs, he even shot a career-high 41% from three.
With career averages of 19.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, and a block a game, Aldridge’s numbers have fallen this season. In fact, he is averaging career lows in points and rebounds this year. We have seen multiple players have their season’s shutdown for trade purposes. Perhaps the All-NBA talent is waiting to be moved to return to his peak play. After all, last season he averaged 18.9 points and 7.4 rebounds. I don’t believe that his play has fallen off as bad as it seems in the box score. With season averages of 13.7 points and 4.5 rebounds, Aldridge has more in him than he has put out this season.
Coach Gregg Popovich seemed to be in on the mutual agreement in the postgame press conference Wednesday night. Tim MacMahon of ESPN had the comments from Pop.
Pop on LaMarcus Aldridge: “We’ve mutually agreed for him to work on some opportunities elsewhere.” Aldridge will not be back with the Spurs.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) March 11, 2021
There will be mulitple teams hoping to bring Aldridge in to solidify their Playoff rosters. Perhaps the Lakers will answer the Blake Griffin signing with Aldridge? This season has been very interesting as players become more vocal about their feelings, especially when discussing their organizations.
