San Antonio Spurs guarantee Trey Lyles’ deal, sign Cameron Reynolds

In addition to guaranteeing Trey Lyles’ contract, the San Antonio Spurs signed G Leaguer Cameron Reynolds on the second day of NBA Free Agency.

A slow news day for the Spurs remains a productive one as NBA Free Agency carries on. The team didn’t make a major splash, but quietly affirmed a key aspect of their lineup. By allowing the deadline to pass, the San Antonio Spurs affirmed our suspicion that forward Trey Lyles‘ second-year contract would be guaranteed for the season.

Lyles was abruptly taken out of the lineup in Orlando after a sudden bout with appendicitis. Ouch.

Regardless, this most assures the fact that NBA free agency would be relatively quiet for the Spurs. There’s no need to commit money past the 2020-21 season if it’s not enough to make a drastic change. Instead, they’ll return one of their strongest rebounders and floor-spacers in the frontcourt with Lyles.

There’s really no telling what the Spurs have up their sleeves, but Lyles is a reliable power forward who fits in with the team’s young core. He’ll need to fight to keep his place in the lineup with the rest of this group on his tail. Minutes won’t be guaranteed for anyone but those who’ve earned it. With all of this in mind, Lyles is certainly going to average 20 minutes per game for this group and hopefully return to the form we saw toward the end of his season.

Source: SG Cam Reynolds agreed to a nonguaranteed 1-year deal with the Spurs.

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) November 21, 2020

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Meanwhile, the team identified a G League talent they liked enough to sign. Formerly of the Milwaukee Herd, 6-foot-7 wing Cameron Reynolds will sign a non-guaranteed deal with San Antonio which Jeff Garcia clarified is an Exhibit-10 contract. This is a great way for the team to assess Reynolds’ talent and NBA-readiness in training camp. He can either transition to the full-time roster, so long as he proves himself, join the team’s G League program in Austin or be waived by the team with little-to-no consequences.

Reynolds has fantastic size, length and seems to have tremendous potential as a jump shooter. Though his averages dipped from his first year to his second, the Texas-native is has made 37.9 percent of over 500 3-pointers attempted in the G League, so there’s some potential there as a firestarter in the long run.

It’s not the flashy or exciting signing we hoped it might be. As a matter of fact, it feels like a relatively inconsequential move (I’ll feel stupid about this when Cameron Reynolds leads the Spurs to a championship in five years) compared with what else is going on in the NBA. However, it’s all a part of a process that’s going to unfold over many years.

There’s still plenty of offseason left but there’s a clear sense of where the Spurs are at by now.