The San Antonio Spurs are off to a surprising 5-3 start out of the gates in the 2022-23 NBA season. While their goal coming into the season was likely to lose as many games as possible, as even head coach Gregg Popovich joked about not betting on his team to win the NBA Finals, they have performed at a high level to start.
Despite trading away All-Star Dejounte Murray in the offseason, this isn’t a roster void of talent. Veterans Josh Richardson and Doug McDermott provide more steady production as the leaders of the team. Devin Vassell is in the midst of a breakout season, averaging 19.8 points to go along with 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
Keldon Johnson, who signed a four-year, $74 million rookie extension, has been excellent. He leads the team with 23.9 points per game to go along with 5.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 33.6 minutes.
While Johnson received an extension this offseason, the same likely will not occur for center Jakob Poeltl. Poeltl came into his own last season and has carried that production over to this season, averaging 13.1 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists in only 28.4 minutes per game. The only thing that is down this season is his blocks, as he is averaging only 0.9 per game.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Jakob Poeltl & San Antonio Spurs Updates
Having Poeltl hit free agency in 2023 is something that San Antonio has been trying to avoid, but given the salary cap rules, it has proven difficult. As Brian Windhorst explained on his podcast, the restrictions that the Spurs face on how much they can pay Poeltl, make an extension unlikely.
“Jakob Poeltl is in the final year of his contract,” Windhorst said. “From what I’m told, the Spurs discussed a contract extension with him, but he’s limited by how much he can sign for. It’s the same reason they traded Dejounte Murray. They did such a good job on the contract that it almost works against you because when you want to sign a player, the player wants more than you can give him because you’re limited on how much of a raise you can give in an extension.”
Handling the salary cap as well as they do is certainly a good thing, but it could also cause some hurdles to jump over in the future. They do an excellent job developing players, but as Windhorst stated was the case with Murray, it will sometimes lead to players seeking more money than the Spurs can offer.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Jakob Poeltl & San Antonio Spurs Updates
Just like Murray was traded, Poeltl is someone to keep an eye on for the same thing to occur. There are plenty of teams around the league who could use a boost at the center position and his name has been mentioned in trade rumors for months at this point.
