Spurs Small Market Scoop
Published on
Ah San Antonio, home of the River Walk, Air Force boot camp, and big ol' women according to Charles Barkley. With the selection and ascension of Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs have tremendous options for building their team. In this edition of Small Market Scoop, we'll take a look at their ownership, current salary cap, and potential moves for the offseason.
Who is the Spurs' owner?
From Caterpillar to courtside
Peter Holt is the San Antonio Spurs' current owner. Holt served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and then dabbled as a stock broker. He then moved to the Lone Star State to help out his pa with his Caterpillar dealership, taking it from the smallest in the country to the largest.
The best estimates I could find for his net worth are $200–400 million. While he's a big baller compared to you and me, he's a pauper in NBA owner terms—one of the OGs before NBA team valuations skyrocketed since the LA Clippers sold for over $2 billion. I don't own an NBA team, but he's not liquid like Ben Affleck. Further putting a crunch on their spending is their need for a new arena. The city will help them finance it, but it's not like they can go deep into the luxury tax without any concern. In fact, they've only paid the luxury tax 6 times. They have recently brought in outside investors in the past few years, so hopefully that'll help them dip into the tax at least a little bit.
San Antonio Spurs Contracts Overview
Currently the Spurs have $143 million committed in 2025–2026, below the projected $156 million cap. The rookie contracts for their draft picks Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant will take up about $19 million, leaving them just a hair under the salary cap before re-signing any free agents such as Bismack Biyombo or Chris Paul (both unlikely). De'Aaron Fox's contract expires after next year, and Wembanyama will be up for his first extension the year after, which will almost definitely be the supermax. With how good he looked this past season, he's almost a lock to earn All-NBA, Defensive Player of the Year, or both, which would make him eligible to sign for 30% of the max.
Speaking of which, the Spurs are in the extremely rare position of having a likely top ten player on a rookie deal AND knowing it. Often times, top players don't hit their peak until after their rookie deals. SGA and Jokic, for example, didn't show first team All-NBA & MVP potential until their fifth and sixth seasons respectively. Giannis made his leap in the last year of his rookie contract—but by then he was already onto his first extension.
While those players were all relatively underpaid on their rookie extensions, the real steal is having Wembanyama taking up 9% of your cap. The only comparable players of the 2000s are probably LeBron James and Luka Dončić. The difference now is that we live in the second apron cap era. With the second apron functioning essentially as a hard cap, having players outperform their contracts is the most valuable it's ever been in NBA history. It's become the NBA equivalent of having a competent rookie QB allowing you to spend big bucks elsewhere.
With that in mind, I'd argue it's time to cash some chips in. The Spurs don't need to be stupid and trade an unprotected first for Derik Queen, but one more move like their trade to get De'Aaron Fox should be a priority. So many in the NBA obsess over timelines and matching the ages of their stars, but if your players are ready to win NOW it doesn't freaking matter. Let's take some looks at some potential trades the Spurs can make to optimize winning a chip in the next 2 years. These names might make you scoff, but in the NBA you never know how quickly things can fall apart sometimes.
Offseason Moves
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Before he was a star, the Bucks made Giannis do Bieber impersonations
This would be the crème de la crème of offseason moves for San Antonio. They would need to give up a lot, with a potential trade being Castle, Harper, Sochan, Harrison Barnes, and a boatload of picks. But with a core of Fox, Giannis, and Wembanyama, the Spurs would have devastating interior defense as well as the potential for an unstoppable big-on-big pick and roll combo. I don't love the fit with Fox as much, but if he could put out a career year in three-point shooting he might just gel well with these two. The team wouldn't have great depth as most contenders this past year have had, but they can just Thibodeau it in the playoffs.
Jaylen Brown
Brown signed the richest contract in NBA history in 2023
You might be busting out your Mike Francesa voice and saying "That'll neva happen in my lifetime." Yeah, I bet nobody thought in 2009 that the Celtics would trade Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. But smart front offices often prefer to move on too early from a player than too late. And while I think the Celtics should hold onto Brown, why not take full advantage of the Tatum gap year, get picks by absorbing another team's bad salary into their injury exception, and trade Brown before his play fails to meet his fat contract's expectations?
Trading for Brown would require a lot in salary, similar to the Giannis trade above. In this scenario, the Spurs are also betting on Harper becoming a great NBA player soon. But if he does, the Spurs have a nice balance of solid guard play, an elite wing, and one of the best players in the NBA.
Devin Booker
Kendall might not be Booker's last break up
Bookie is unlikely to move as well, I'll admit. If he decides Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green aren't cutting it next year, he could request a trade though. Or if a random Michigan State student tweets to Matt Ishbia that the Suns owner should trade Booker, then he'll probably get dealt as well.
The Spurs could trade De'Aaron Fox and Keldon Johnson along with a bushel of picks for Booker (see trade machine), say its 2030 swap with Dallas & Minnesota, its 2030 swap with Sacramento, and its own unprotected 2032 first-rounder. This would give Phoenix an All-Star caliber player while also replenishing its draft assets, either to hedge for an extended backslide or to grab another superstar to pair with Fox.
For the Spurs, they upgrade from Fox to Booker, who has shown he has playmaking chops and can be a lead ball handler. He also gives them a true number one option as a scorer, giving Wembanyama more time to develop as an elite offensive player. If Harper reaches All-NBA level during his rookie deal, this would let the Spurs mirror the Thunder with a great Big 3 and the potential to have decent depth.