San Antonio Spurs: DeMarre Carroll signing signals win now mentality

With the San Antonio Spurs’ signing of DeMarre Carroll to a two-year deal, they are planning on winning right away with their current core.

The San Antonio Spurs could’ve gone a few different ways with their Mid-Level Exception this year.

They had the choice to attack needs at the wing position or at center, and the front office needed to decide whether they were going to target a younger player to grow with Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Lonnie Walker and their two first round rookies or sign a veteran that would provide more value in the present than the future.

R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich decided to go with the latter strategy by signing DeMarre Carroll to a two-year deal worth $13 million.

The Carroll signing didn’t use up all of the Mid-Level Exception as the Spurs still have a little less than $3 million of that Exception to use this summer if they wish.

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The Carroll announement occurred after the re-signing of Rudy Gay to a two-year, $32 million deal.

Those contracts create a clear timetable where it looks like the Spurs are trying to maximize the potential of their current window with DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge continuing to lead the way.

DeRozan (with a player option), Aldridge, Patty Mills, and Davis Bertans are all under contract for the next two years before their deals come off the books along with the new two-year contracts DeMarre Carroll and Rudy Gay.

As of now, Lonnie Walker is the only Spur that is set to be under contract in 2021. After these next two years we can expect some sort of reset that will allow the Spurs to build around their young core without the weight of those larger veteran contracts.

Gregg Popovich will also be entering the last year of his contract after this two-year timetable expires.

San Antonio could choose to extend this window by extending DeRozan’s contract and building around him, but we don’t know if he is a part of the organization’s future plans.

DeMarre Carroll is a great fit with this current iteration of the Spurs with his ability to defend opposing wings and knock down spot up three-pointers. However, he’s nearly 33 years old which puts him on the same timeline as DeRozan, Aldridge, Gay, and Mills compared to that of San Antonio’s young core.

Because of Dejounte Murray’s injury last season, we haven’t been able to see how high the ceiling of this team really is.

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With DeRozan and Poeltl entering their second year in San Antonio and picking up another versatile wing who can help that deficiency from last year’s team, the Spurs believe they have the talent to compete in a wide open Western Conference this season.