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Considering the San Antonio Spurs’ season-ending NBA Finals loss to the New York Knicks occurred less than a week ago, it’s safe to assume they haven’t yet recovered from missing out on an attainable championship.
The fact that the Mitch Johnson-led ball club dominated the Knicks for a good portion of the series is impressive. Still, San Antonio’s inability to execute down the stretch of four of their five games was inexcusable, even for a young, inexperienced team.
Veteran point guard De’Aaron Fox was supposed to offer the franchise a dependable late-game closer who made all the right reads when it mattered most. Instead, Fox had a nightmarish offensive showing in back-to-back outings (Games 4 and 5 with poor shooting performances and an unnecessary layup attempt in crunch time) and is still hearing about it days later.
The real nightmare is Fox’s monster $229 million contract, as it would make life challenging for the Spurs if they ever zero in on trading him. Essentially, the Spurs could be stuck with Fox for the foreseeable future following his miserable postseason.
CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn thinks there may be hope for San Antonio after all, though, floating the idea of the franchise trading him to the Toronto Raptors for a former New York Knicks All-Rookie guard.
“Toronto has been linked to several big names over the past year,’ Quinn wrote last Sunday. “Fox isn't an ideal fit as a shaky shooter, but he's a major talent upgrade over their current guards, and the Spurs are one of the few teams that would likely be interested in one of their shakier contracts.”
“Immanuel Quickley is overpaid at $32.5 million per year for the next three years, but he's uniquely valuable to the Spurs since he's been a very effective bench player in the past, his contract expires a year earlier than Fox's and therefore doesn't overlap with Harper's eventual rookie extension, and even if he's overpaid, he makes so much less than Fox that those savings could be beneficial in other ways.”
Quickley’s high volume perimeter shooting, polished in-between game, and ability to hold his own as a defender in one-on-one situations contributed to one of the Raptors’ best seasons in recent years.
The Kentucky product averaged 16.4 points, 5.9 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game on a Raptors squad that earned the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference and was a win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Given that Quickley is young, performs on both ends of the floor, and is known for his high-IQ approach to the game, he would fit well with a Spurs squad that’s likely a few impactful additions away from being on the right side of a lopsided 4-1 NBA Finals series.
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