SAN ANTONIO — Minute's after Monday's deadline, news broke that the San Antonio Spurs would sign Derrick White to a multi-year extension.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the deal is worth 4 years, $73 million and will kick in after this season. San Antonio would have been able to bring him back in restricted free agency next year, but this deal takes any doubt out of the equation to the relief of many Spurs fans.
It would have been hard to overpay White, who was San Antonio's most complete two-way player in the Orlando bubble. He's a big, smart combo guard who distributes and scores at a high level both on and off the ball. He shot nearly 40% on about 8 three-point attempts per game at Disney, and one of the best perimeter defenders there as well.
The 26-year-old's deal is a bit higher than Dejounte Murray's extension signed last year at $64 million for four years, and seems to be pretty fair market value with a long-term commitment for both sides.
When asked earlier in the week about White, Coach Gregg Popovich said that he's someone who the Spurs plan to build with moving forward. Jakob Poeltl mentioned after he signed his contract this offseason that he and Derrick had spoken a bit about their future together, and the future of the team.
If the deadline came and went with no deal, the Spurs would have still had all the power to bring White back as a restricted free agent in 2021. He would have been able to sign an offer from any team, but the Spurs would have had the right to match that contract.
He could have potentially earned a raise this year with his play, but the Spurs have so much cap space that they could have comfortably brought him back on a cushy deal.
With the extension out of the way at $18 million a year, San Antonio has locked up a key piece of the young core and will still be able to spend a lot of money next summer.
White is still out, recovering from surgery on a dislocated toe that he played through in the bubble. He shouldn't be out for too much longer, though, and the rest of San Antonio's young core has a brighter future with Derrick securely in it.