San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginobili. (Photo : Getty Images)
The San Antonio Spurs successfully re-signed NBA veteran Manu Ginobili to a one-year, $14 million deal after the Philadelphia 76ers almost snagged him away by offering a two-year, $30 million contract.
Earlier reports said that the Spurs were initially intending to sign the 38-year-old Argentine shooting guard to a one-year deal within the $10 million range but the multi-million offer from Philadelphia forced the club to increase his salary for him to stay.
The Sixers sent Ginobili the two-year, $30 million proposal, whose second year is only partially guaranteed, earlier in the week despite the four-time NBA champion and two-time NBA All-Star announcing in social media that he will be "coming back to the Spurs for another season".
It was enough to convince the Spurs management to "raise their offer" to Ginobili, according to ESPN, which was to Ginobili's advantage ultimately.
San Antonio pushed through with Ginobili's acquisition on Thursday after they finalized the signings of Pau Gasol, Davis Bertrans, Dewayne Dedmon, Ryan Arcidacono, Bryn Forbes, and rookie Dejounte Murray, all of which filled up the team's cap space.
Ginobili's current salary was actually a huge increase from his last season's $2.8 million and exceeded the team's salary cap, but because the Spurs own his full Bird rights, the deal was still allowed.
The report said that Philadelphia intended to bring the Argentinian to their side because of his ties with Sixers head coach Brett Brown, who was an assistant coach for Gregg Popovich from 2002 to 2013 before accepting the Philadelphia coaching stint. The Sixers also has "the desire to add to a growing core of strong veteran influences" to support their young core of players.
Meanwhile, NBC Sports noted that San Antonio was set to give Ginobili $3 million next season, but with the Philadelphia offer, things changed fast. Ginobili said to have agreed on a "hometown discount", but "not a $13 million one".
The Spurs were able to keep Ginobili, but now the team will not be able to match Detroit's offer to Serbian sophomore Boban Marjanovic.
Ginobili is entering his 15th year in the NBA. Last season, his averages of 9.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists were the lowest of his career since his rookie year as he only played a career-low 19.6 minutes per game in only 58 games for the Spurs.
