San Antonio Spurs: Davis Bertans agrees to two-year deal
By Rob Wolkenbrod
An original report said Davis Bertans signed a four-year deal with the San Antonio Spurs. Instead, he will return on a two-year pact.
Earlier this week, a report surfaced from Sportando, that the San Antonio Spurs re-signed Davis Bertans to a four-year, $20 million deal. However, the San Antonio Express-News’ Tom Orsborn added that no agreement transpired yet.
Now, it seems the Spurs and Bertans matched up on a new deal. According to Yahoo’s Shams Charania, it’s for two years, $14.5 million; it’s an average annual value of $7.25 million.
Spurs restricted free agent Davis Bertans has agreed to a two-year, $14.5M deal to re-sign with San Antonio, agent Arturs Kalnitis told Yahoo.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 10, 2018
The news arrives hours after the Spurs re-signed Bryn Forbes to a two-year contract. So they no longer have any of their own free agents available, as Bertans, Forbes, Kyle Anderson, Rudy Gay, Danny Green, Joffrey Lauvergne and Tony Parker are all off the market.
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Forbes’ salary is unknown, but if it’s at least $2 million, his and Bertans’ would nearly equal what Anderson received from the Memphis Grizzlies and what the Spurs declined to match. That’s despite Bertans and Forbes’ roles off the bench, while Anderson started the majority of games in the 2017-18 season, as Kawhi Leonard sat out with a quadriceps injury.
Bertans has acted as a stretch four for the Spurs upon arrival in the 2015-16 season. It’s on 44 percent shooting and 38.4 percent from 3-point range for 5.3 points. He received 10 starts when head coach Gregg Popovich made temporary lineup changes and placed Pau Gasol in a bench role.
As for the 2018-19 season, expect Bertans to take a similar role. Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge are still the starting big men, and Rudy Gay can play the stretch four role next to either player. That leaves the Latvian forward in a similar spot to his career 13.2 minutes per game, unless the Spurs have bigger plans for him without Anderson.
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Bertans has a two-year future in San Antonio, much, like, most of its free-agent signings (Forbes, Marco Belinelli). It’s only July 10 and the offseason is far from over. Let’s see what else is in store in an unusual time for this franchise.