San Antonio Spurs: The Dejounte Murray extension negotiations will be complicated

A multitude of different factors will make the San Antonio Spurs’ negotiations with Dejounte Murray incredibly complicated this offseason.

The San Antonio Spurs put themselves in perfect position to have a home run offseason considering their resources heading into the summer.

The Spurs’ front office conducted some salary cap wizardry to clear the necessary space to sign Marcus Morris, who was the top free agent on the market at the time of the reported agreement.

However, Morris ended up backing out of the agreement and signing a slightly richer one-year contract with the Knicks.

Morris was so unhappy with how his free agency period went this year that he reportedly fired his agent Rich Paul, who has become the league’s most polarizing player representative during his time with Klutch Sports with his most famous move being the Anthony Davis trade demand of last season.

It’s tough to tell if Paul and the Spurs’ front office have any bad blood as the Klutch Sports agent reportedly had no part in Morris negotiating his deal with New York. In fact, Paul encouraged his client to stick to the deal they negotiated with San Antonio.

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The Spurs will have to do business with Rich Paul again soon as he represents Dejounte Murray, who is eligible for a contract extension this offseason.

The Spurs have until October 21st to decide whether they want to hand an extension to Murray, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract.

If the two sides are unable to agree on a deal before that October 21st deadline, Murray will hit the restricted free agent market in the summer of 2020.

Also, San Antonio will have a new general manager conducting these negotiations after Brian Wright takes over for R.C. Buford in that capacity in early September.

Wright has already been instrumental in some of the Spurs’ biggest moves of the past couple of years during his time as the assistant general manager, but this will be his first season in the hot seat after being groomed for this job since his arrival in San Antonio.

Another complicating factor in these negotiations will be Dejounte Murray’s knee injury that forced him to miss all of last season.

The Spurs will surely want to see him on the court before handing him a new contract, but the October 21st deadline will prevent them from being able to see him in much regular season action before they have to make a decision.

All of these issues may cause the front office to let Murray play out the final year of his deal and let him hit restricted free agency next summer. However, they would take on the risk of some team giving Dejounte a massive offer sheet next offseason if he has an awesome year and the Spurs could be wary of matching that large contract.

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It will be fascinating to see how these negotiations shake out over the coming months before the rookie extension deadline. This situation will be a key moment in the future of this franchise and could end in a multitude of different ways.