San Antonio Spurs: Manu Ginobili should come back after Dejounte Murray injury

The San Antonio Spurs are left with a major hole at the guard position after Dejounte Murray’s injury. Manu Ginobili could help fill that void right away.

Since Tim Duncan’s retirement in 2016, the San Antonio Spurs have lost the entire core of the team that destroyed the Miami Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals.

Tony Parker signed with Charlotte this offseason, Kawhi Leonard forced a trade after becoming unhappy with the organization, and Manu Ginobili retired after 16 years in San Antonio.

The Spurs were hoping to build a new championship core around LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan and Dejounte Murray, but Murray’s torn ACL has set those plans back a year.

With Murray out for the season, Gregg Popovich should give a call to his old buddy Manu to deal with the absence of the Spurs’ starting point guard.

There are a couple of different ways San Antonio could solve the Dejounte Murray problem.

More from Air Alamo

• Spurs show remarkable poise against Bulls, unlike many fans
• Devin Vassell is the latest in the Spurs’ collection of silent assassins
• San Antonio Spurs: 5 Players to avoid in any LaMarcus Aldridge deal
• Is Gregg Popovich hiding Luka Samanic as a secret weapon?
• San Antonio Spurs News: More DeRozan trade talk from Chris Haynes

We’ve looked at possible options on the current roster and even theorized three possible trades that could bring in some help from another team. However, none of those alternatives are super inspiring at this point.

The Spurs’ best course of action is to bring back a player who knows Pop’s system better than anyone else and was still playing at a high level last season.

At 40 years old, Ginobili scored 8.9 points per game with 2.5 assists and 2.2 rebounds in 20 minutes per night. He had a true shooting percentage of 55.3% and hit 33.3% of his 3 three-point attempts per night.

Manu didn’t show many signs of slowing down last season, and I believe he could still be a solid contributor for at least another year.

He has already almost retired and come back before, so it wouldn’t be totally out of character for him to have a change of heart.

Want your voice heard? Join the Air Alamo team!

Write for us!

With Murray out of the lineup, the Spurs don’t have many established ball-handlers outside of DeMar DeRozan. Ginobili could come in and run the offense on the second unit like he has for years and take some of the playmaking duties off of DeRozan’s plate.

It might take a few weeks for Manu to get back into playing shape, but those days off early in the season could keep his legs fresh for a playoff push.

Dejounte Murray’s injury left San Antonio in a tough spot just days before the beginning of the regular season, but an old friend could be the perfect answer for this situation.