SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs waived veteran big man Gorgui Dieng to make space for a trade with the Celtics, sending out a heavily-protected second-round pick for cash considerations and Noah Vonleh, who San Antonio promptly waived.
So why would the Spurs trade for a player they didn't want, and why did the Celtics give him up for a draft pick they'll probably never see? The short answer is financial reasons. The long answer is, well, longer.
Like a middle school math teacher, ESPN's Bobby Marks broke down the financial calculus for both teams in simple terms on a whiteboard. Both teams wound up profiting from the deal.
See, Vonleh's contract for the rest of the season worth $2.5 million would have become fully guaranteed if he was still on Boston's roster by January 7. That may not sound like much, but by making the trade the Celtics avoided paying $7.1 million in luxury tax and almost a million owed to Vonleh.
San Antonio facilitated the move and got $1.5 million back for their trouble. It cost them about a million dollars total to pay what was owed to Dieng and Vonleh, netting the team almost a half a million dollars. They had to send out a pick to make the trade work, but it's top-55 protected, which means they won't have to send it unless the team has one of the best records in the league in whatever year that pick winds up being.
You may still be asking yourself why the Spurs made this move. Dieng is a great guy and a good vet for these youngsters, and the Celtics gained financially much more than San Antonio did.
While Dieng is an unfortunate casualty in all this, he was barely playing in Gregg Popovich's rotation and this frees him up to seek more opportunity elsewhere. And as far as helping the other team more, that's just a good business move for a team that will probably do a bit of wheeling and dealing at the trade deadline.
San Antonio currently has the fourth-worst record in the NBA. That means they don't have realistic title hopes, and even making the playoffs would be a stretch. They are, however, in contention for a top pick in the upcoming draft as they look for a cornerstone of their rebuild. Jakob Poeltl, Doug McDermott, and Josh Richardson are all veterans who could help teams that are looking to win now, and it wouldn't be surprising to see San Antonio send them out for draft capital or young talent in month between now and the deadline on February 9.
GM Brian Wright has done a number of deals that are more about accounting than they are about anything happening on a court, and hopefully that's earned him some good will with his fellow GMs across the association. Making this trade now not only improves the trading relationship with the Celtics, it also signals to other teams that the Spurs' front office is willing to facilitate deals.
You need some help with the tax man? We've got space to take a tough contract off your books. Need a third team to make the numbers work on a big deal? Hit us up. Looking for some veteran role players? We know a couple guys.
Just make sure there's something in it for us.