Despite all the rumors, the Spurs never closed on Chris Paul, who engineered a trade from the Clippers to the Rockets. San Antonio broke off discussions with George Hill.
But maybe the Spurs, with Tony Parker injured and aging, will just turn to Patty Mills at point guard.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Free agent Patty Mills has agreed to a 4-year, $50M deal to stay with San Antonio, league sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/K9ZzMOnDzR
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2017
Mills will count just $6,800,001 against the cap until signed. Then, the Spurs can exceed the cap to re-sign him with Bird Rights. So, San Antonio will likely delay finalizing this deal until conducting other business.
Maybe the Spurs will use that flexibility to sign a better point guard – Kyle Lowry or bust? – but it sure seems they’re handing the reigns to Mills. The 28-year-old Mills has improved as a floor general, and this is a reasonable price for him.
But has he developed enough to be more than sparkplug off the bench? If his indeed headed toward starting long-term for a championship contender, there will be more pressure on Kawhi Leonard, whom the offense usually runs through but is still growing as a distributor himself.
