3 Roster-crunching decisions Spurs must make before the regular season

If you can believe it, after what felt like a painfully long season of searching for small wins that culminated in an offseason headlined by Victor Wembanyama, we’re less than two months away from the return of San Antonio Spurs basketball. And with the preseason being only about a month away, a roster crunch is just around the corner.

The Spurs’ roster currently sits at 20 players. This 20-man roster includes 18 players on standard contracts and a pair of two-way signees: Dominick Barlow and Sir’Jabari Rice. But by October 23, this roster must be cut down to 15 standard contracts and three two-way deals. In other words, three players who are under standard contracts with the Spurs will be on the chopping block before we reach the regular season.

The Spurs opting to simply waive three players by the deadline is a very real, if not the most likely scenario. But Brian Wright and company will almost certainly explore other options that will squeeze the most value out of their roster, even if that means just adding to the Spurs’ seemingly ever-growing list of 2nd round draft picks. So, while I don’t think fans should expect any kind of blockbuster trade any time soon, one or a few insignificant trades are still very much in the cards.

My approach here is to dive a bit deeper into which current Spurs players are the most likely trade candidates, explain why in detail, and finally briefly mention what any potential trades could look like. So, while we won’t be diving into specific trade targets this time around, this can be thought of as a fun “couch GM” exercise that will ideally help set fans’ expectations as we move into the latter parts of the offseason.