San Antonio Spurs: 3 Buyout candidates that could help down the stretch

If the trade deadline comes and goes without any major moves, the San Antonio Spurs could improve their roster with these potential buyout candidates.

The trade deadline is fast approaching and San Antonio Spurs fans are excited to see if the front office decides to shake up their roster for a postseason run.

With rumors flying around about Kevin Love and Jonathon Simmons among others, the Spurs should have some options in the trade market.

However, San Antonio isn’t known for pulling the trigger on big-time moves at the trade deadline, so they may be looking forward to the buyout market to add a veteran or two.

Here are a few players that could get bought out of their current contracts and hit the market as free agents after the trade deadline.

Next: Chandler Parsons

Chandler Parsons

We don’t really know if Chandler Parsons has anything left in the tank as injuries have kept him on the sidelines for much of his NBA career.

He’s only played in three games for the Grizzlies this season, and he’s currently sitting out while the team decides what they’re going to do with his contract situation.

I can’t imagine many teams would be willing to give up much for Parsons in a trade, so the most likely scenario ends in Memphis buying out the rest of his contract.

In theory, Parsons is a three-and-D wing player who can give 10-15 quality minutes per night.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Parsons perform at a high level, but he might be capable of giving a playoff team three months of solid basketball after sitting out most of the year.

Next: JR Smith

JR Smith

At this point of his career JR Smith is more of a meme than a basketball player, but he still has some desirable skills for potential playoff teams.

Like Chandler Parsons, Smith has also sat out most of the season due to his contract situation and he will likely get bought out in the next month or two.

Smith hit 37.5% of his three-point attempts last season, and he’s still capable of playing solid defense when he’s completely engaged.

In this situation the Spurs wouldn’t be spending more than the minimum on JR Smith, so it may be worth the  low risk to see if he can give you some good games off the bench down the stretch.

Next: Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin

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Jeremy Lin is pretty clearly the best player of this trio of buyout candidates, and it’s likely that the Hawks will move on from him as they begin to enter full tank mode.

Lin has played very well for Atlanta this year with a true shooting percentage of over 60% and a player efficiency rating of 16.6. And buying out the rest of his contract will help the Hawks lose games in the second half of the season.

The Spurs are pretty deep at point guard, but they lack playmaking ability at that position outside of Derrick White.

Lin could give San Antonio 20 quality minutes at point guard every night and make them an even more formidable contender than they already are.

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The Spurs will face some stiff competition in this year’s buyout market with plenty of teams thinking they have a chance at a deep playoff run, but there are plenty of good players worth taking a look at once they are bought out.