Boban accepts deal from Pistons, Spurs won’t match

There have been quite a few twists in this years free agency period.One of the unexpected moves comes from the Spurs themselves, Boban Marjanovic.

Once Kevin Durant decided to leave Oklahoma City (whom the Spurs tried to recruit also), other unexpected moves have begun to fall. The Spurs who are dealing with a delicate cap situation this season, extended a qualifying offer to Marjanovic worth $1.5 million, and in the process making him a restricted free agent.

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What teams like to do sometimes, is allow a player to receive an offer on the open market, and use that as a target for what amount that particular players market value is.

Once the free agent moratorium ended on July 7th at 12:01 AM, the Detroit pistons signed Marjanovic to an offer sheet for 3 years worth $21 million dollar according to ESPN’s Marc Stein. That is a relatively cheap deal, especially in this wild free agent market we’re witnessing, so the Pistons are making a low risk, high reward move.

Detroit is signing Spurs restricted free agent Boban Marjanovic to a three-year, $21 million offer sheet, according to league sources

— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 7, 2016

The way restricted free agency goes, when another team offers a player a contract, the players original team has three days to match the offer, or lose that player to the new team.

Looking at the payouts for Boban’s contract, he will make  $5.6 million in year one, $5.9million in year two, and  $9.5 million in year three. This is sort of a back loaded mini poison pill deal for the Spurs and they simply don’t have the cap space to match.

Boban, at 7-foot-3 split games during the season playing games for the Spurs’ D-League team the Austin Spurs, and the Spurs. In the 54 games he played for the Spurs, he averaged 5.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.4 blocks in 9.4 minutes per game. Marjanovic had one of the highest league PER numbers at 27.77, although most of his minutes were against second and third string players. Another plus that he brings to the Pistons as a big man, is the fact that he can knock down free throws, something their high salaried star Andre Drummond has had issues with in the past.

Boban has a nice touch around the rim, soft hands, can easily finish around that paint, but he is too slow to keep up with faster players, and will have to get used to the strength of NBA players, but should continue to be an effective NBA backup center with a productive career. He is a hard worker that is very talented, and perhaps Detroit will give him what he needs to take the next step.. playing time.

Take a look at some of Boban’s best plays of the season

The Spurs have used the same cap space they could’ve matched Boban with, on a more athletic Center, Dwayne Dedmon who will take all of Boban’s minutes and probably more.

As a fan favorite, It’s unfortunate to see him go. Boban was loved in San Antonio and he loved the city just as much. He was actually becoming a favorite of basketball fans in general, but most beloved in the city he played in.

Just after his last game (that dreadful loss in OKC), Boban gave Spurs fans one last message.

ICYMI, Boban had a message for Spurs fans waiting for the team at the airport last night ❤️ pic.twitter.com/NwG79EUBv0

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) May 13, 2016

We here at Air Alamo wish nothing but the best for Boban. He was truly a fan favorite and when he entered games he always had a way to put his own stamp on it.

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