By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2026-07-21 07:35:50
马刺经历了一个相当乏味的休赛期。他们在选秀大会上补充了体型，留住了哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 和乔丹·麦克劳克林 (Jordan McLaughlin)，而他们最大的一笔引援是34岁的托拜厄斯·哈里斯 (Tobias Harris)。维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 毫无悬念地获得了一份顶薪合同，仅此而已。对于一支刚刚打进总决赛的年轻球队来说，这是一个稳健的休赛期，但并没有充斥着重大决策和惊天交易。
这很可能是管理层最后一次享有无需做出牺牲、无需应对潜在争议性谈判以及无需为未来布局的特权了。到明年休赛期，圣安东尼奥可能会发现自己要面对雷霆，以及在较小程度上，尼克斯和凯尔特人今年所面临的那种问题。
对于那些可能还不了解的人来说，奢侈税和第二土豪线确实让几支争冠球队的建队能力变得极其复杂。雷霆不得不清理掉以赛亚·乔 (Isaiah Joe) 和阿隆·威金斯 (Aaron Wiggins) 这几位证明过自己的板凳深层球员的薪资，这本不会对他们的争冠概率产生太大影响。但如果萨姆·普雷斯蒂 (Sam Presti) 的新闻发布会可信的话，在老板的授意下，他们还不得不放弃卢根茨·多尔特 (Luguentz Dort) 以降到奢侈税线以下。在此过程中，他们得到了一些次轮签，但失去了一位首发球员——一位夺冠功臣，也是他们效力时间最长的球员之一，用他们总经理的话来说，这是一个“财务决定”。
在东部联盟，卫冕冠军和他们最大的威胁之一也不得不做出并非基于篮球层面合理性的决定。尼克斯拒绝跨越第二土豪线，这一决定似乎是由他们的老板主导的，并在此过程中失去了米切尔·罗宾逊 (Mitchell Robinson)，取而代之的是同类型但实力稍逊的安德烈·德拉蒙德 (Andre Drummond)。据报道，凯尔特人交易杰伦·布朗 (Jaylen Brown) 有很多原因，但他庞大的合同显然是这一举动最大的推动因素之一。要知道，罗宾逊在纽约的几次季后赛征程中都至关重要，而波士顿则是以布朗和杰森·塔图姆 (Jason Tatum) 双人组为核心赢得了总冠军。
回到圣安东尼奥。虽然维克托·文班亚马潜在的降薪应该有助于平衡薪资空间，但艰难的决定已迫在眉睫。首先，斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 将在明年夏天获得提前续约的资格。假设他作为球员继续进步，他会想要一份顶薪。马刺当然希望他能少拿点，并且会利用受限制自由球员的威胁作为谈判筹码，这让他们掌控了卡斯尔的命运。使用这一武器的问题在于，它可能会损害与卡斯尔的关系，而他曾是一支总决赛球队的首发球员。如果管理层认为他是未来不可动摇的核心之一，那么让他保持开心并感到被重视将是至关重要的。在不提供25%起薪顶薪的情况下，他们能做到这一点吗？
卡斯尔的续约合同直到2028/29赛季才会生效，因此它不会对薪资空间产生即时影响，但它会制约马刺未来能负担得起和负担不起哪些球员。圣安东尼奥在这个休赛期距离奢侈税线如此之近，以至于一份老将底薪就会将他们推过税线。主要原因是达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 30%起薪的顶薪合同，他今年将获得4950万美元。最终，福克斯会被交易（稍后会详细说明），但为了平衡薪资空间，可能会出现比福克斯更直接的“牺牲品”。凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 有资格获得提前续约，但尚未得到。一旦文班亚马的续约合同在明年休赛期生效，如果银黑军团想要保持在奢侈税线以下，他们将只有大约1000万美元的额度来签下三名球员。他们可以通过裁掉卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 来腾出更多空间，但带回约翰逊可能会很难实现。
当然，所有这些估算都是在福克斯的合同至少在下赛季前仍留在账面上的前提下做出的。马刺现在可能想送走他，但他们明确表示不会这样做，这很合理。尽管在总决赛和整个季后赛中表现挣扎，但福克斯依然是队内最好的球员之一，也绝对是最好的场上指挥官。送走他可能意味着球队在天赋上退步，因为他目前被评估的价值远无法与他庞大的薪水相匹配。但最终，他必须离开，除非球队更看好他，而不是卡斯尔和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)，但这看起来极不可能。所以，如果不是本赛季，福克斯什么时候会被清理掉？在卡斯尔的续约合同生效之前，还有时间这样做，但如果有买家的话，在明年休赛期进行交易可能会更有意义，以避免在极度被动的局面下进行谈判。
我们可以继续展望未来，并考虑哈珀潜在的续约意味着什么，但这还为时过早，而且也太接近可能发生的劳资协议 (CBA) 变更了。目前显而易见的是，马刺所完成的令人难以置信的成功重建，很快就会遭遇惩罚性重复奢侈税和土豪线对建队造成的限制，这已经迫使其他争冠球队流失了人才。
这个休赛期对圣安东尼奥来说是平静的，无需打破阵容的连续性，并允许管理层在保留打进总决赛的原班人马的同时，加入一些年轻且廉价的拼图。这不是一个最令人兴奋的夏天，但很快，随着艰难的决定变得不可避免并改变球队，马刺球迷可能会发现自己回首往事，并希望事情能像2026年那样简单。
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
查看原文：The Spurs enjoyed the last quiet offseason they’ll have for a while
The Spurs enjoyed the last quiet offseason they’ll have for a while
The Spurs had a rather boring offseason. They loaded up on size at the draft, they retained Harrison Barnes and Jordan McLaughlin, and their biggest addition was 34-year-old Tobias Harris. Victor Wembanyama got a no-brainer of a max contract, and that was it. A solid offseason for a young team coming off a Finals run, but not one filled with major decisions and big swings.
This will likely be the last summer when the front office will get the privilege of not having to make sacrifices, deal with potentially contentious negotiations, and have to make plays for the future. By next offseason, San Antonio might find itself dealing with the type of problems the Thunder and, to a lesser extent, the Knicks and Celtics dealt with this year.
For those who might not be aware, the tax and the second apron really complicated the team-building abilities of several contenders. The Thunder had to salary dump some of their proven deep bench guys in Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins, which wouldn’t have been that impactful on their contention odds. But they also had to drop Luguentz Dort to get under the tax at the behest of ownership, if Sam Presti’s press conference is to be believed. They picked up some second-rounders in the process, but lost one of their starters, a champion and one of their longest-tenured players on what their general manager called “a financial decision.”
In the Eastern Conference, the reigning champions and one of their biggest threats also had to make decisions that weren’t based on what made sense basketball-wise. The Knicks refused to cross the second apron, a decision seemingly spearheaded by their owner, and lost Mitchell Robinson in the process, replacing him with a lesser version of the same archetype, Andre Drummond. The Celtics traded Jaylen Brown for many reasons, according to reports, but his massive contract was apparently one of the biggest drivers for the move. Mind you, Robinson was essential for New York in several postseason runs, and Boston won a title with the Brown-Jason Tatum duo as their core.
Back to San Antonio. While Victor Wembanyama’s potential discount should help with cap balancing, tough decisions loom. First, Stephon Castle will become eligible for an extension next summer. Assuming he continues to improve as a player, he’ll want the max. The Spurs would surely love it if he took less and will have the threat of restricted free agency, which gives them control of Castle’s destiny, as a bargaining tool. The issue with wielding that weapon is that it could damage the relationship with Castle, who was a starter on a Finals team. If the front office thinks he’s a part of the untouchable core going forward, keeping him happy and feeling important will be paramount. Can they do that without offering the 25 percent max?
A Castle extension wouldn’t kick in until the 2028/29 season, so it wouldn’t have an immediate impact on the cap, but it would condition who the Spurs can and can’t afford in the future. San Antonio is so close to the tax line this offseason that a veteran’s minimum would push them over it. The main reason is De’Aaron Fox’s 30 percent max that will pay him $49.5 million this year. Eventually, Fox will get traded (more on that in a second), but there might be a more immediate casualty than Fox to balance the cap. Keldon Johnson is eligible for an extension but has not received one. Once Wembanyama’s extension kicks in next offseason, the Silver and Black will only have around $10 million to spend on three players if they want to stay under the tax. They could carve up some more space while waiving Luke Kornet, but bringing Johnson back could be hard to achieve.
Of course, all these estimates are made with Fox’s contract on the books at least until next season. The Spurs could be looking to move him now, but they made it clear that they won’t do that, which makes sense. Despite the struggles in the Finals and the postseason in general, Fox is one of the best players on the team, and certainly the best game manager. Moving him would likely represent taking a step back in terms of talent, since his current perceived value doesn’t come close to matching his massive salary. But eventually, he’ll have to go, unless the franchise prefers him over Castle and Dylan Harper, which seems extremely unlikely. So if not this season, when is Fox being salary dumped? There’s time until Castle’s extension kicks in to do so, but it might make more sense to do it next offseason, if there’s a buyer, to avoid having to deal from a position of extreme weakness.
We could continue looking towards the future and consider what a potential Harper extension would mean, but it’s too far down the line and too close to a possible CBA change. What’s clear right now is that the incredibly successful rebuild the Spurs have put together will very soon run into the limitations that the punitive repeater tax and the aprons put on team building, which has already forced other contenders to lose talent.
This offseason was a quiet one for San Antonio, leaving no need to veer from continuity and allowing the front office to keep the team that made the Finals together while adding some young, cheap pieces. It wasn’t the most exciting of summers, but soon enough, as the tough decisions become unavoidable and change the team, Spurs fans might find themselves looking back and hoping things could be as simple as they were in 2026.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock