The San Antonio Spurs have traded their starting center Tiago Splitter to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for non-roster players, according to Fox Sports. The Spurs reportedly aimed to unload the salary of the 6-foot-11 Spanish League MVP to create cap space for the impending signing of All-Star free agent LaMarcus Aldridge.
Splitter is supposed to earn around $17 million in the next two years and the Atlanta Hawks, who are in dire need of a towering frontcourt presence after Pero Antic's recent decision to return to Europe, would now have to shoulder the cost.
It is essentially a win-win transaction for both teams. Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer is already quite familiar with the Brazilian, who played for him during his assistant coaching tenure at San Antonio, thus he would be able to maximize his strengths in the Atlanta front line.
With the addition of Splitter, Hawks mainstay Al Horford can now go back to his more comfortable position at power forward while Paul Millsap, who recently signed a three-year, $59 million deal to stay with the team, can now slide to the no. 3 spot after DeMarre Carroll's latest transfer to the Toronto Raptors.
Meanwhile, the Spurs needed to clear precious cap space to have a shot at taking in Aldridge's expected maximum-level salary, as per ESPN. With the trade, San Antonio was able to take $8.5 million off their cap.
Rumors have emerged that Aldridge is keen on joining the Spurs to have the opportunity to play for Greg Popovich, to be mentored by Tim Duncan, and to have a legitimate chance of winning the title.