Why This Trade Makes Sense For The San Antonio Spurs

For the first time in 22 NBA seasons, the San Antonio Spurs missed the NBA playoffs. The last time this happened, Microsoft became the world’s richest company, Titanic was the No. 1 movie in America, and gas was $1.22 per gallon. Life was way different then than it is now and just goes to show how impressive this run by the San Antonio Spurs organization was. For a solid two decades, they were one of the most dominant franchises in all of professional sports.

Every win streak and postseason run ultimately comes to an end and in a year where the unexpected became reality, this was yet another chapter of how cruel 2020 was. The Spurs organization as a whole though is not in a tough position at all. They do have aging veterans such as Rudy Gay and LaMarcus Aldridge, but they also have a lot of solid young players like Dejounte Murray and Derrick White who will be some of the core players for the Spurs moving forward.

DeMar DeRozan has been a big part of the Spurs since joining them in 2018, but trading him for Andre Iguodala, Kelly Olynyk and numerous first-round picks may make more sense than it appears. We briefly discussed the impacts both Iguodala and Olynyk could have, but the first-round draft picks they could receive in this trade would have a huge impact for the Spurs moving forward.

Not only would they have opportunities to continue building a sustainable young core for many years to come, but they could continue to rebuild this team into a title contending roster. Whether it is leveraging these draft picks for another star player or just stockpiling talent, the Spurs would have plenty of options on how to continue building their team. 

Believe it or not, the Spurs could still have a legit shot to make the playoffs, even without DeMar DeRozan, but they would need their young talents to consistently play at a high-level. The Spurs are going to be a good team moving forward given their youthful core, but Andre Iguodala and Kelly Olynyk are two great role players to add alongside them.