After getting Pau Gasol to opt out, San Antonio still faced a challenge in clearing cap space for Chris Paul. Even they trimmed their roster to just Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Danny Green and Tony Parker, the Spurs would still have to dump one of those players.
Which would it be?
Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News:
League sources tell the @ExpressNews that #Spurs are open to trading guard Danny Green. No deal is close as of yet, though #NBA pic.twitter.com/lo4k57Tswd
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) June 21, 2017
Green would be a helpful cog on a Spurs team trying to win a title behind Paul, Leonard and Aldridge. Green is a very good defender, and those stars would generate plenty of open 3-pointers for him. He’s nearly an ideal role player.
Parker is the clear player to drop in a Machiavellian sense. He’s injured and, even if he gets healthy, he’d face a reduced role behind Paul.
But Parker is a Spurs legend, and there’s a loyalty to him.
It depends what Green would fetch in a trade and how much it’d cost to unload Parker. We might not get an idea on either unless Paul actually decides to bolt the Clippers for San Antonio.
But it seems the Spurs are valuing sentimentality over maximizing their title odds if they get Paul.
