Written by Ramona Shelburne and Michael C. Wright at ESPN.com
The San Antonio Spurs, in pursuit of a top-10 pick in Thursday’s NBA draft, have spoken to at least three teams about a possible trade involving power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, sources confirmed to ESPN.
Aldridge’s contract contains a player option after the 2017-18 season, and he declined to address the situation when asked specifically by ESPN about it during the playoffs.
“He can opt out in a year,” Spurs general manager R.C. Buford told ESPN last month. “There’s a point in time that we’ll have to address what’s next. At that time, we’ll deal with it. As you build a team, you make decisions along the way.”
As of Thursday morning, the Spurs have the No. 29 pick in the first round and a second-round selection (No. 59 overall).
Arizona Sports 98.7 first reported that the Spurs were talking to teams about an Aldridge trade.
Aldridge was signed to an $84 million contract in 2015 as the club’s most significant acquisition in free agency. He received widespread criticism for his play in the 2017 postseason, as he averaged a career-low 16.5 points per game in the playoffs along with career lows in player efficiency rating (15.2) and blocks (1.0).
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich voiced displeasure with Aldridge’s performance after Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, when the power forward failed to score in the first half and finished with eight points in 27 minutes.
With point guard Tony Parker suffering a season-ending quadriceps injury during the Western Conference semifinals, followed by the team losing Kawhi Leonard to a sprained ankle in Game 1 of the conference finals against Golden State, San Antonio expected Aldridge to fill the void. Instead, once Leonard suffered the injury with the Spurs leading the Warriors by 23 points in Game 1, Aldridge struggled.
To continue reading this article, click here.
