Melvin

Sanders

It was probably the hardest decision to cut Sanders. He spent the past two seasons in the CBA and has become a favorite of the Spurs front office.

With Brent Barry, Michael Finley and Manu Ginobili dealing with injuries, the Spurs felt they needed more firepower at the swingman position. Sanders had two rebounds in four scoreless minutes Wednesday.

Sanders, who was the Spurs’ final cut of training camp, had his 10-day contract expire Saturday, but the team signed him again on Nov. 9 after Michael Finley and Brent Barry went down with injuries. He was cut less than two weeks later and signed with Fayetteville of the NBA’s developmental league.

The rookie appeared in five games in November before being released. He was averaging 20.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in five games in the NBDL before San Antonio recalled him.

He won’t require surgery, but probably will need four weeks to recover. He wasn’t on the playoff roster, but he hopes to be ready for the summer league. The Spurs were using him as a practice player though.