Wembanyama signs blockbuster extension worth less to help Spurs build<\/a><\/p>\nLet’s start with misconception No. 1: The Spurs did not ask Wembanyama to take less money. That’s simply not true.<\/p>\n
Victor was offered the full supermax deal worth more than $300 million. But being Wemby, he did his homework. He wanted to see what the Spurs’ salary cap situation would look like under different scenarios.<\/p>\n
What happens when it’s time to extend Stephon Castle next summer? What about Dylan Harper the year after that?<\/p>\n
The Spurs laid out the numbers, and it was Wembanyama’s decision to take 25% of the salary cap instead of 30%.<\/p>\n
It’s not the first time a Spurs superstar has done something like this. Tim Duncan famously took less money throughout his career to help keep championship-caliber teams together.<\/p>\n
Not everyone is thrilled about it, though.<\/p>\n
The NBA Players Association has raised concerns because it doesn’t want this to become the expectation. If stars begin accepting smaller contracts, could future players feel pressured to sacrifice salary so owners can avoid paying the luxury tax? That’s been one of the biggest talking points around Summer League in Las Vegas this weekend.<\/p>\n
There’s another reality, too. The Spurs may be able to afford three max contracts, but probably not four.<\/p>\n
That has fueled criticism on social media aimed at De’Aaron Fox, who will make about $33 million more than Wembanyama next season and roughly $10 million more even after Victor’s extension begins a year from now.<\/p>\n
Eventually, the Spurs will face difficult financial decisions when it’s time to pay Castle and Harper. But that day hasn’t arrived yet.<\/p>\n
One NBA general manager I spoke with this weekend summed it up perfectly: “You don’t pay your cell phone bill four years in advance. You pay it month to month.”<\/p>\n
The goal isn’t to have fewer good players. The goal is to keep as many as you can afford.<\/p>\n
Right now, the Spurs can afford Fox. Despite battling a high ankle sprain during the NBA Finals, he remains one of the league’s top guards and was an All-Star last season.<\/p>\n
Wembanyama’s decision gives the Spurs a better chance to keep talented players around him over the next two or three years.<\/p>\n
As for what happens after that? The Spurs will deal with those decisions when the time comes.<\/p>\n
SPURS SUMMER LEAGUE SCHEDULE<\/p>\n
Utah Jazz
at
San Antonio Spurs
Wednesday, 8:30 pm
Cox Pavilion, Las Vegas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tonight on Don’s Extra Point: The deal behind the deal. There have been all kinds of opinions and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-371009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}