Should the San Antonio Spurs trade for any of the Grizzlies’ veterans?

The Memphis Grizzlies have acquired three veterans this offseason who could help a playoff team this year. Should the San Antonio Spurs try to trade for one of them?

The San Antonio Spurs‘ offseason is potentially over after using about two-thirds of the Mid-Level Exception to acquire DeMarre Carroll in free agency and re-signing Rudy Gay with both of those contracts being two-year deals.

However, the Spurs could still be active in the trade market if they so choose because they can easily match salary in any deal and they have future draft picks that are available to move.

The Memphis Grizzlies have a promising future built around Ja’ Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Brandon Clarke, but they probably won’t be able to compete for a playoff spot right away with that young core.

They brought in Jae Crowder and Kyle Korver in the Mike Conley trade with Utah, and they absorbed Andre Iguodala‘s contract in a three-way sign-and-trade with the Warriors.

With the Grizzlies’ current timetable, it makes sense for them to trade away most if not all of these veterans who have postseason experience and can still play important roles for a contender.

Do any of them make sense for the Spurs and does San Antonio have the right assets to get a deal done?

Next: Kyle Korver

Kyle Korver

There were some rumors flying around that Kyle Korver would retire after being traded to Memphis, but Marc Stein reported that the 38-year-old sharpshooter will play at least one year and “maybe even two.”

Korver has spent the second half of his illustrious career bouncing around on different contenders providing a dangerous outside shooting that is extremely valuable in today’s NBA (42.9% career three-point percentage.)

Korver’s contract for the upcoming season is set to pay him $7.5 million, but only $3.44 million of that is guaranteed money.

The Spurs could always use another shooter to surround DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Dejounte Murray, but Korver’s skillset overlaps with Marco Belinelli‘s and I believe it’d be pretty hard for Korver to steal playing time away from Marco at this point in their careers.

San Antonio already has a pretty deep roster, so I don’t think potentially trading a future asset for Kyle Korver would be a wise move.

UPDATE: Kyle Korver has been traded to the Suns and is expected to be bought out buy Phoenix.

Next: Jae Crowder

Jae Crowder

Like his teammate Kyle Korver, Jae Crowder‘s last two stops in the NBA have been in Cleveland and Utah where he’s provided a strong presence on the wing for contenders.

Crowder is a streaky shooter as he’s hit 39.8%, 32.3%, and 33.1% of his three-pointers in the past three seasons, but opposing defenses do have to respect him which helps space the floor.

Crowder has a reputation as a good wing defender. However, the numbers say otherwise as he ranked 67th out of 75 power forwards in defensive real plus-minus last year and 62nd out of 72 in 2017-18.

If that outside shot isn’t falling and his defensive reputation is as overrated as the stats say, Crowder doesn’t really fit that three-and-D skillset that is so hard to find.

The former Marquette man is entering the final year of a contract that is set to pay him $7.8 million this season. Unless the Spurs can unload Patty Mills‘ deal to Memphis in a Jae Crowder trade, I don’t think Crowder should be a target for San Antonio.

Next: Andre Iguodala

Andre Iguodala

More from Air Alamo

• San Antonio Spurs: White’s return to form skyrockets Spurs potential
• San Antonio Spurs: Four trade partners to watch for as deadline nears
• Predicting Spurs’ week 9 results, featuring trap games abound
• San Antonio Spurs: Jakob Poeltl reasserting himself as a defensive force
• San Antonio Spurs: Trading for John Collins still a longshot for Spurs

In one of the most shocking moves of the first day of free agency, the Golden State Warriors decided to send their former Finals MVP to Memphis in order to clear cap space to give D’Angelo Russell a max contract after a sign-and-trade.

While I don’t think Kyle Korver or Jae Crowder are great fits for the Spurs, Andre Iguodala could help make San Antonio into a defensive juggernaut once again.

Iguodala’s defense hasn’t fallen off at all as he enters his mid-30’s.

The three-time All-Star ranked 6th among small forwards in defensive real plus-minus last season after ranking third at the position two years ago. Those numbers would be even better if they included the playoffs where he’s taken his game to another level in each of the last few years.

Teams are going to leave Iggy open from three at this point in his career, but putting him on the floor with Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, DeMarre Carroll and Jakob Poeltl would make up a dominant defensive lineup after the Spurs struggled on that end of the floor last season.

Sending Patty Mills and Davis Bertans to Memphis for Iguodala works in ESPN’s trade machine, but the Spurs might have to send a second round pick to make the Grizzlies agree to that deal.

Want your voice heard? Join the Air Alamo team!

Write for us!

If San Antonio is serious about making a deep run in the Western Conference playoffs this season, I think adding a motivated Andre Iguodala would be a smart move. And he’s on an expiring contract which would give the Spurs more financial flexibility next summer.