Why The San Antonio Spurs Do The Deal
By contrast, we know the Spurs won’t be trading for a star player this year. After all, they just traded one away.
Moreover, they didn’t get any win-now talent in return for him. The Spurs traded Dejounte Murray for three first-round picks, and Danilo Gallinari – who they promptly bought out. This team is tanking as hard as any in the NBA in 2022-23.
With that in mind, they might as well flip Richardson for a worse player. There’s an intrinsic value in downgrading the roster this year – it helps them bottom out. Of course, that’s not the main reason the Spurs get involved here.
That would be the draft capital. For a team in the Spurs’ situation, even a lottery-protected first from a contender like the Mavericks is valuable.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Josh Richardson, San Antonio Spurs & New York Knicks Updates
All told, this deal lines up with the Spurs’ organizational needs at the moment. Being bad hasn’t looked this good on them in a long time.