Throughout the NBA season, one of the brightest stars for the San Antonio Spurs throughout the season was Kyle Anderson.
Despite the injuries and constant rotation changes around him, Anderson turned in his best season as a pro. And as a restricted free agent, the Spurs knew they were going to have to shell out some money to keep him.
They declined to do so, making Anderson a member of the Memphis Grizzlies as of Sunday night.
As first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Anderson has signed a four-year, $37.2 million offer sheet from the Memphis Grizzlies. Because “Slow-Mo” is a restricted free agent, the Spurs have 48 hours to match the offer.
According to Woj, the deal has a 15 percent trade kicker as well.
This was maybe a little bit more money than the Spurs would ideally like to spend in order to keep a guy like Anderson but he was arguably the team’s second-best player last year.
He had a career year, is a versatile defender and scorer with an improving three-pointer, and if he continues to improve, that contract would have been well worth it.
The Spurs would have had to go over the salary cap to keep him but because they have the “bird rights” to him, they wouldn’t have had to pay a luxury tax if they decided to match the offer.
This would have left little room, however, if the Spurs wanted to keep Davis Bertans AND sign another big man to spell LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol, it’s going to be tough to afford both.
