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.

Spurs have a point guard decision to make

To be completely clear, despite some fans currently struggling to see the vision with him at this stage after an inconsistent Summer League, I highly doubt Blake Wesley is going anywhere any time soon. But I do think Wesley is a key piece of the conversation when it comes to the team’s roster construction over the next month and a half. While the coaching staff’s main priority will continue to be winning basketball games, priority-number-one for the front office should be to put their young draft picks in the best possible position to succeed.

Tre Jones is without a doubt the Spurs’ starting point guard this coming season meaning, as the roster stands, Wesley, Devonte’ Graham, and former Phoenix Sun Cameron Payne will all be competing for minutes off the bench. And while having that much depth at the point guard position isn’t necessarily a bad thing at face value, if that depth comes at the expense of Wesley’s development, Spurs fans could soon be looking back at the 25th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft as a missed opportunity rather than another developmental success story.

The Spurs’ front office would be wise to give Wesley a trial by fire and carve out as many meaningful NBA minutes for him as possible this season, even if that means more growing pains for him and the coaching staff initially. With as many future draft picks as the Spurs have, and with as big of an upside as Wesley has, it will be critical for the team to quickly assess what they have in him so as to make more informed decisions when it comes time to make tough roster choices in the next few seasons.

Between Graham and Payne, Payne likely holds a bit more trade value at the moment when considering his expiring contract, playoff experience, and marginally better efficiency as a shooter. But for those same reasons, I think the Spurs would prefer to hold onto him—at least until the trade deadline—as someone who could easily fill in as a starter when Tre Jones is resting or injured. Therefore, I think Graham is the most likely offseason trade candidate between the two at this moment.

The caveat here, however, is that Payne could draw significantly more interest around the trade deadline, and were the Spurs to have already traded Graham away in the offseason, trading Payne as well could leave the team’s depth at the point guard position nearly nonexistent. With that in mind, I would not be surprised if the Spurs preserved their depth in favor of exploring trades involving both Graham and Payne closer to the deadline. For the Spurs to trade Graham in the offseason, it would likely take a relatively strong offer including multiple 2nd round picks and cash considerations.

Spurs should consider adding depth at center

Outside of the point guard position, which is likely where the Spurs have the most questionable depth at the moment, the team has a good amount of options at every other position. But if we shift the focus slightly to talent as opposed to sheer depth, I think there could be some room for improvement at the center position. Assuming for the sake of this exercise that Zach Collins will be the team’s starting center with Victor Wembanyama playing at the power forward position, that leaves Dominick Barlow, Charles Bassey, and Sandro Mamukelashvili coming off the bench at center.

While it doesn’t take too much mental gymnastics to imagine players like Cam Payne, Malaki Branham, Keldon Johnson, and even Doug McDermott (among others) occasionally slotting in the starting lineup at their respective positions, things get a bit dicier when asking one of Barlow, Bassey, or Mamukelashvili to fill in for Collins on any given night.

The benefit of playing Collins next to Wembanyama in the starting lineup starts and ends with the sheer physicality he provides on defense. While Collins can match up with more traditional post-up bigs on the block, Wembanyama will be able to preserve his health and energy on that end of the floor and act more as a help defender around the rim, where he’s already proven to excel during his time with Metropolitans 92.

I would argue that Bassey is likely the most viable option after Collins to fulfill the need for a defensive-minded, physical big man, but as he’s coming off a fractured left patella, there is little to no guarantee that he—or Collins, for that matter—will hit the ground running and remain healthy throughout the season. And while Barlow and Mamukelashvili are interesting players worth keeping around in their own right, they don’t strike me as players that would serve Wembanyama well as the team’s fill-in starting center at the moment even if they have the upside to eventually get there.

Assuming Khem Birch will be waived, the Spurs could probably afford to bring in a veteran center that is serviceable in a starting role when needed but that will also aid rather than hold back the development of Barlow, Bassey, and Mamukelashvili. The Spurs could also opt to trade one or a few of those young players for a definitive upgrade at the center position, but I see that as the less-likely path at this stage.

Because adding a player to a roster that already needs to be trimmed is counterproductive, this is the trade scenario I least expect to happen any time soon, as it would likely require a multi-team trade where the Spurs can send out multiple players. But in the less-than-likely event that the Spurs do look for another veteran to add to the team before the start of the season, I expect that player to be able to fill in at center and take on challenging defensive matchups around the rim.

Spurs need to address their stockpile of wings

The Spurs simply opting to waive the required number of players to cut the roster down to 17 is a very real—if not the most likely—possibility, but if the past few offseasons are any indicator, the front office will first try to extract as much value out of their roster as possible. In all likelihood, Khem Birch will be one of the players waived by the start of the regular season, but beyond him, I’d argue that most of the Spurs’ roster is tradable to some extent.

So, shifting the focus from where the Spurs have the most questionable depth to where they have the most depth, the team will almost surely look to trade one or more of their wealth of options at the small forward position. Assuming for now that Jeremy Sochan will inherit the starting SF role this coming season, he along with Keldon Johnson, Sidy Cissoko, Reggie Bullock, Julian Champagnie, Doug McDermott, and Cedi Osman all make up the Spurs’ depth chart at that position.

Determining which of these players will be put on the chopping block is a bit of a challenge, but I think we can make some easier inferences about who is likely to stay first. Sochan and Johnson are two of the Spurs’ mainstays and best players at this point—neither will be going anywhere anytime soon.

Sidy Cissoko, who was selected in the 2nd round of the 2023 draft after Wembanyama, is the youngest player on the team, can play multiple positions, and was (to the surprise of many) given a standard contract as opposed to a two-way, so he will almost surely be around for a while as well. And furthermore, giving him the space and reps to find a role with the team will be important.

Julian Champagnie recently signed a 4-year deal with the Spurs after a very impressive stretch of games in the Summer League. His new contract, which is structured similarly to that of Charles Bassey, is quite team-friendly and could preserve future flexibility in a big way if he continues playing well.

This leaves Reggie Bullock, Doug McDermott, and Cedi Osman left as trade possibilities and, assuming for this exercise that Birch will be waived, only two of the three would have to be traded or waived assuming the Spurs don’t make any other trades. And to be fully transparent, I think the Spurs trading both McDermott and Osman is the most likely of the trade scenarios we’ve outlined here.

Being that all three players are coming into the final year of their contracts, the choice to keep Bullock over McDermott and Osman (at least until the trade deadline) would likely come down to personnel, positional versatility, and current vs. future value. Bullock is likely the most consistent wing defender of the three players despite being a bit smaller, shoots the ball close to the same level as McDermott, has playoff experience, and is capable of playing spot minutes at the shooting guard position when needed as well.

McDermott is still one of the better shooters in the league and Osman has a bit of upside as a ball-handler and playmaker, meaning teams could very well be interested in bringing either player in as a last-minute roster addition. But because both are questionable defenders at best at this point in their careers, McDermott will be turning 32 this coming season, and Osman has been relatively inconsistent as a shooter over the course of his career, I would argue both players have more "bust" potential compared to Bullock and may peak in trade value right now.

We’re splitting hairs here, and ultimately, an argument can be made for keeping any of these three players. But Bullock is the most prototypical 3-and-D player of the three and I think stands the best chance of retaining or growing his current market value as the trade deadline approaches this coming winter. If we do see a trade involving one or both of McDermott and Osman before October 23, expect a smaller return of a 2nd round pick and/or cash.