Tiago Splitter gets to re-join his former assistant coach Mike Budenholzer with the Atlanta Hawks. In a move made by the San Antonio Spurs to clear up some salary cap space to go after free agent big man LaMarcus Aldridge.
The San Antonio Spurs have traded center Tiago Splitter to the Atlanta Hawks, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 1, 2015
After bringing back Danny Green, the Spurs are unloading Splitter's salary to the Hawks. Now, the Spurs go into Aldridge meeting with space.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 1, 2015
For both sides, this is a telling deal. The Spurs are clearing up the cap space needed to offer LaMarcus Aldridge a reasonable deal to join them. They are the frontrunners because they have the best pitch. They can pay him a nice sum of money, they have the team around him now and this team will be his in the future.
Atlanta on the other hand is preparing for life without possibly Paul Millsap after he was offered a deal from the Orlando Magic earlier in the day. If they want to at least keep one of either Millsap or DeMarre Carroll, they needed to make this move to make sure they don’t lose out on both. It’s a contingency plan for them to prepare for the worst.
