SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs are a team of tradition -- and traditionally, the Silver and Black stand pat at the trade deadline. Over the last seven years, the Spurs have acquired one player at the deadline: Austin Daye in 2014.
This year, there was a decent chance that the Spurs would make a deadline deal, with expiring contracts for vets like DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay and the announcement made last month that LaMarcus Aldridge would not return to the team. At the time the Spurs' front office broke the news regarding the Spurs' big man, the team said they were confident a deal would be made.
Well, the Spurs made a deal at the deadline, but it wasn't one of the many rumored across national media. Instead, the team reportedly acquired forward Marqueese Chriss from the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Cady Lalanne.
Chriss is out for the year with a broken leg, but he was teammates with Dejounte Murray at the University of Washington. Both players were one-and-done with the Huskies; Chriss, 23, was the 8th overall pick in 2016, Murray 29th.
Lalanne was a second-round pick for the Spurs in 2015 and played two seasons with the G-League Austin Spurs. He's played overseas ever since. The Warriors reportedly made the move to save luxury tax, and also sent cash to the Spurs in the exchange.
As for Aldridge, the Spurs' next move is to buy him out, paving the way for the big man to sign with another team. it's been reported that several organizations are interested in signing him in order to bolster rosters ahead of the NBA playoffs.
It's unclear how much Aldridge's contract would be bought out for, but that will allow San Antonio to save a bit of money and preserve cap space for next year, when they'll have nearly $50 million in money to spend.