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San Antonio Spurs: Davis Bertans reportedly in play for Nets, Jazz

ByRob Wolkenbrod|
SAN ANTONIO, TX - FEBRUARY 3: Davis Bertans #42 of the San Antonio Spurs is introduced prior to the game against the Utah Jazz on February 3, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photos by Mark Sobhani/NBAE via Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX - FEBRUARY 3: Davis Bertans #42 of the San Antonio Spurs is introduced prior to the game against the Utah Jazz on February 3, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photos by Mark Sobhani/NBAE via Getty Images)

Aside from the San Antonio Spurs, two teams are reportedly in play for Davis Bertans, a restricted free agent.

The San Antonio Spurs have decisions to make this summer, including to potentially trade Kawhi Leonard to the Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers or somewhere else. This does not factor free agency, however, which starts Sunday, July 1 at Midnight ET.

Davis Bertans will hit restricted free agency after the Spurs extended a qualifying offer. He’s one of three Silver and Black players with this status, with Bryn Forbes and Kyle Anderson as the others. To retain them, these players must accept the qualifying offers or have the Spurs match another team’s offer sheet.

According to Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports, San Antonio wants to retain Bertans, but the Brooklyn Nets and Utah Jazz are also contenders. However, it would also be “hard-pressed” for him to go back to Europe.

Per source, #Jazz + #Nets – as well as #Spurs – are the current contenders for San Antonio RFA Davis Bertans. All three are in the mix for the 25-year-old PF. Source says it would be "hard-pressed" for Bertans – a career 38.4 percent 3-point shooter – to make EuroLeague return.

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) June 29, 2018

If Bertans returns, he brings 3-point shooting as a stretch four. That became the case in both of his NBA seasons, after joining the Spurs for the 2016-17 season, five years following the team’s acquisition of his rights in the 2011 NBA Draft; it’s the same deal that brought Leonard to the franchise.

With the Jazz and Nets, they have the open cap space, respectively, to pursue Bertans. That may mean the Spurs keep a closer eye on an offer sheet, which could take them out of the market to re-sign their 25-year-old power forward.

Next: Top 10 FA targets

This situation will develop as the Leonard saga rolls on, one of the NBA’s main topics of the 2018 offseason. San Antonio is at the center of it all, an unusual circumstance, so let’s see what happens once July 1 arrives and all eyes go on the chaotic free-agent period. Will they be able to retain Bertans, among other players set to hit the open market?

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