Due to the increased rumors about Kevin Durant coming to San Antonio as a free agent in the off season I thought I would look and see how possible it would be for the Spurs to sign him in the off season. I will not be exploring the possibility of Durant taking a pay cut to join the Spurs but I do acknowledge that it is a possibility no matter how unlikely I think it is. All of the salaries that I will be using were obtained from Sportrac and Hoops Hype. I will also be using $92 million and $111 million as the projected cap and the projected luxury tax for the 2016-2017 season both of which I also obtained from Sportrac. This exercise can also be used to discuss the possibility of Al Horford or Mike Conley joining the Spurs in place of Durant because all three of them qualify for the same amount of money if given a max offer.

First in order for the Spurs to be able to offer a max contract to Kevin Durant the Spurs would need approximately $22 million in cap space. Before renouncing any bird rights or any other cap holds and assuming Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and David West all opt in to their player options the Spurs will only have $2,793,716 in cap space. As you can see the Spurs will need to free up approximately $20 million in salaries.

If the Spurs renounce the bird rights to Matt Bonner and Andre Miller's cap hold which is likely since both will likely retire that will free up another $1,231,181 by removing their respective cap holds which would now give the Spurs $4,024,897 in cap space. The Spurs could also renounce Kevin Martin's cap hold which would give them $4,225,497 in cap space.

Player Salary LaMarcus Aldridge $ 20,575,005 Kawhi Leonard $ 17,638,063 Tony Parker $ 14,445,313 Danny Green $ 10,000,000 Boris Diaw $ 7,000,000 Tim Duncan $ 6,393,750 Patty Mills $ 3,578,947 Manu Ginobili $ 3,025,050 David West $ 1,551,659 Kyle Anderson $ 1,192,080 Jonathon Simmons $ 874,636 Boban Marjonovic $ 1,500,000 Total $ 87,774,503 Projected Cap $ 92,000,000 Kevin Durant proj. Salary $ 22,000,000 Space Available $ 4,225,497

For the remainder of this exercise I'm going to assume that the Spurs will renounce Bonner, Martin, and Miller's cap holds in addition to the cap holds for different exceptions for simplicity sake. This would drop the Spurs roster to 12 which means for every additional player who's cap hold they renounce it gets replaced with a cap hold at the value of a rookie minimum contract, which is $543,471. The Spurs will also need to include the $950,200 they would need to pay their first round draft pick assuming they don't plan on stashing them overseas. If the Spurs do stash their first round pick overseas or trade the pick his salary will be replaced by the rookie minimum salary. The Spurs would now have a couple different ways to approach the roster. Duncan, Ginobili, and West all have players options. If all three opt out to retire, resign for the veterans minimum, or in West's case play elsewhere that will free up another $8,933,317 which will now give the Spurs $13,158,814 in cap space.

Player Salary LaMarcus Aldridge $ 20,575,005 Kawhi Leonard $ 17,638,063 Tony Parker $ 14,445,313 Danny Green $ 10,000,000 Boris Diaw $ 7,000,000 Patty Mills $ 3,578,947 Kyle Anderson $ 1,192,080 Jonathon Simmons $ 874,636 Boban Marjonovic $ 1,500,000 Drafted Rookie $ 950,200 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Total $ 78,841,186 Projected Cap $ 92,000,000 Kevin Durant proj. Salary $ 22,000,000 Space Available $ 13,158,814

The Spurs would now only need to find $8,841,186 of cap space in order to sign Durant outright but this is also where it begins to get really tricky. Boris Diaw's contract for next season is only guaranteed for $3 million of the $7 million he's owed so the Spurs could cut him to free up another $3.5 million in cap space although that seems unlikely. The Spurs could also choose not to make a qualifying offer to Boban Marjonovic which would save the Spurs another $956,529 but it would mean that the Spurs would lose the opportunity to match any contract that was offered to Boban. The Spurs did this last off season with Cory Joseph in order to sign Aldridge. A more likely scenario, assuming that the Oklahoma City Thunder want to get something in return for Durant, is a sign and trade. If the Spurs renounce the rights to the players like I have described above and the Thunder were willing to do a sign and trade deal for either Danny Green or Boris Diaw that would get Durant to SA.

The Spurs could also trade Green or Diaw to another team with cap space just like they did last year when the Spurs traded Tiago Splitter to the Atlanta Hawks to make space for Aldridge. If the Spurs were to trade Diaw to another team they would still need to find $2,384657 in cap space. This could be done by renouncing Boban's cap hold which would save the Spurs another $956,529 meaning that they would only need to find $1,428,128 in addtional space. The Spurs could only get there by trading Kyle Anderson, the rookie they drafted with the 29th pick, and Jonathon Simmons or by trading Patty Mills. Suffice to say it's unlikely that the Spurs trade Diaw to another team to open up the cap space for Durant.

Player Salary LaMarcus Aldridge $ 20,575,005 Kawhi Leonard $ 17,638,063 Tony Parker $ 14,445,313 Danny Green $ 10,000,000 Patty Mills $ 3,578,947 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Total $ 70,041,625 Projected Cap $ 92,000,000 Kevin Durant proj. Salary $ 22,000,000 Space Available $ 21,958,375

If the Spurs were to trade Green to another team that would free up enough space to sign Durant.

Player Salary LaMarcus Aldridge $ 20,575,005 Kawhi Leonard $ 17,638,063 Tony Parker $ 14,445,313 Boris Diaw $ 7,000,000 Patty Mills $ 3,578,947 Kyle Anderson $ 1,192,080 Jonathon Simmons $ 874,636 Boban Marjonovic $ 1,500,000 Drafted Rookie $ 950,200 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Rookie Minimum $ 543,471 Total $ 69,384,657 Projected Cap $ 92,000,000 Kevin Durant proj. Salary $ 22,000,000 Space Available $ 22,615,343

In summary it is difficult to make the money work but it is possible. If the Spurs are to get Durant it nearly requires them to trade Danny Green either for him in a sign and trade or to another team. I know signing Durant makes the roster to appear thin but keep in mind that the Spurs could resign Duncan, Ginobili, West, or other veterans for the vet minimum and for whatever exceptions the Spurs would qualify for to fill out the roster after Durant signs. I still think Durant will resign with the Thunder for one more year so that he can qualify for a higher max salary and to hit free agency at the same time as Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. Regardless of what Durant ultimately decides to do it will be interesting to follow and could change the landscape of the NBA.

Additional Sources: http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/info/rookie_scale

http://hoopshype.com/2015/10/12/whats-the-minimum-nba-salary/