July 15, 2016
Sixers coach Brett Brown hasn’t coached future Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili in three years, but they were closer to reuniting than anyone on the outside might have imagined. And while Manu won’t be coming to Philly more than once this upcoming season, it sure sounds like Brown gave him one final assist.
On Thursday, the Spurs unsurprisingly came to terms with the 38-year-old Argentinean legend on a deal worth one year and $14 million. What is surprising is the reason Ginobili’s salary rose that high: a hard push from none other than Brown, Bryan Colangelo, and your Philadelphia 76ers.
Perhaps the two most reliable NBA newsbreakers reported and confirmed the Sixers’ interest in Ginobili. First, Adrian Wojnarowski (who else?) said that the Spurs’ initial offer was one year and $3 million, but the Sixers were offering considerably more.
ESPN’s Marc Stein had different initial numbers on the Spurs offer, but he offered specifics on what the Sixers’ price range for Ginobili was:
ESPN.com reported earlier Thursday that the Spurs were planning to sign Ginobili to a one-year deal in the $10 million range, but sources say that a two-year offer from the Philadelphia 76ers worth an estimated $30 million -- though only partially guaranteed in Year 2 -- convinced the Spurs to raise their offer to the Argentinean.
We’ve said time and again that the years are far more important than the dollars in free agency, and the Sixers still have about $27 million in cap space. There are reports out there that they're still searching for another veteran guard. Ginobili could run many of the Sixers’ offensive sets, taken from the Spurs, blindfolded and he still showed some serious game in limited minutes last year (18-5-6 per-36 minutes, .39 3P%). Ginobili definitely could’ve helped the Sixers, and the contract wouldn’t have been damaging long-term.
Manu Ginobili on the Sixers likely would’ve been a blast. Alas, he was probably never leaving San Antonio.
How weird would it be seeing Manu on an NBA basketball court in anything other than a Spurs uniform? Also, he’s quite literally never played on an uncompetitive NBA team. San Antonio has made the playoffs every year of Ginobili’s career, and in many of those seasons they were winning or at the very least contending for titles. Suiting up for a rebuilding Sixers team might’ve been quite the culture shock.
In order to help the Spurs assemble a great roster over the past few years, Ginobili has taken a couple of major discounts. Just last season, he signed for $2,814,000. With the Spurs already up against the salary cap anyway and nowhere near the luxury tax, they could’ve paid Ginobili whatever he wanted with his Bird Rights.
Thanks to his old coach, San Antonio was forced to do just that.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
