LaMarcus Aldridge chooses the Spurs

There have been rumblings about Aldridge feeling like Lillard was stealing too much attention. Of course Aldridge denied it. The fact that he joined the Spurs, a typically reserved franchise that doesn’t promote its players, seems to point to the rumor not being entirely accurate or the spotlight not being as important to Aldridge as originally thought.

New York fans should feel good about this because Aldridge didn’t rule out joining the Knicks as much as both the franchise and the player decided the fit wasn’t good. The Knicks wanted a center to pair with Camelo Anthony and Aldridge doesn’t see himself as one.

The Spurs? Damn, man. That’s just not cool. I mean, that’s just unfair.

For the better part of two decades, the Spurs have been incredibly successful. They haven’t done this through landing big free agents. With the exception of their one bad season in 1996-97, they haven’t done it through lucky lottery bounces. They’ve succeeded in a variety of ways in spite of those limitations.

With Aldridge’s decision, these are some of the remaining questions.

There are two answers to this question and the first is simple: they’re the Spurs.

Aldridge is expected to sign a four-year maximum contract that will total around $80 million.

In Aldridge the Spurs get the perfect player to make one more push at a title and rebuild their team around in a post-Tim Duncan era. Aldridge will smoothly fit right into San Antonio’s offensive scheme. His outside shot will help the Spurs continue to space the floor and he and Tony Parker should be able to form a great pick-and-roll combination. He’ll also give San Antonio some much needed youth.

Aldridge would be a big boost for both teams, who can continue to pitch their franchises while they wait on one of the best remaining free agents.

Lillard has played with Aldridge since he entered the league three years ago so it’s no wonder he wants his running mate to return. In addition to this impromptu visit, Lillard also reached out to Aldridge on Twitter encouraging him to re-sign in Portland after they had “built something great.”

It still looks like Aldridge is headed out the door but you can’t fault Lillard for trying.

The Lakers were the first to meet with Aldridge, but he was reportedly unimpressed by their focus on off-court activities rather than the actual basketball team. There were reports that he ruled out the Lakers entirely, though Wasserman denied that. Kobe Bryant’s presence at the meeting was also reportedly a turn-off.

In fairness, the Lakers have been a bad team for two years, as opposed to San Antonio and even Phoenix. Their appeal is less the team and more the market.

The most popular man in the NBA right now is LaMarcus Aldridge. The free agent forward has already met with the Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Raptors, Rockets and Knicks, and now there’s another team that wants a meeting with him. That would be the Miami Heat, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

The Heat entered free agency with about $13 million in free agency, but that was before inking Goran Dragic to an $80 million deal and before the team reaches a conclusion with Dwyane Wade. There aren’t a lot of easy answers for how Miami could clear max salary cap space here. Luol Deng’s $10 million salary and the combined $14 million between Chris Andersen, Mario Chalmers and Josh McRoberts might be the only avenue.

The details of why Aldridge is looking elsewhere are a fascinating perspective into what ails the Lakers. From Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times:

The Lakers apparently focused on selling L.A. as a city of opportunity, but Aldridge wanted to become comfortable with the Lakers’ basketball plan. (Imagine that.)

Remember that weird picture of Adam Levine the Lakers posted Tuesday night to try and lure LaMarcus Aldridge to Los Angeles?

Well, they had to take it down. As well as all of the other tweets they posted with the #LAtoLA hashtag. Apparently some of the other teams in the league didn’t like them, even though the organization had cleared it with the NBA beforehand.

But it seems Kobe didn’t help. And if so, this is not the first time Bryant has been... well... less than tactful with a potential target or a teammate. In fact, at this point it seems to happen pretty much every year. (And let’s not even go back to the whole Kobe vs. Shaq feud. That was rough.)

Nonetheless, the Lakers agreed to trade for Howard and try their luck with Howard in the next offseason.

This seems like a longshot, but it is technically possible despite the Blazers’ free-agent acquisition of Al-Farouq Aminu. The Blazers have oodles of cap space and could certainly fit Monroe’s first-year max salary of around $15.8 million. There is an avenue for them to keep Aldridge’s cap hold on the books, sign Aminu and Monroe and then go over the cap to give Aldridge a five-year maximum contract.

Here’s how it would work.

With two moves in the span of minutes, the San Antonio Spurs put themselves in the pole position to sign LaMarcus Aldridge. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks lost at least one key member of their 60-win team and are in danger of losing another.

First, Danny Green agreed to a four-year, $45 million contract with San Antonio. Then, the Spurs agreed to trade center Tiago Splitter and his $8.5 million salary to the Hawks for cap space, taking no salary back themselves. DeMarre Carroll, in turn, bolted to sign with Toronto because the Hawks no longer have enough cap space to afford both him and Paul Millsap, who himself might go to Orlando.

The Hawks have salary-cap space to absorb Splitter’s salary after seeing DeMarre Carroll depart for the Raptors. It’s unclear what they will send back to San Antonio, but it’s unlikely to be anything of value.

San Antonio is set to meet with Aldridge soon, and after getting Green under contract and Splitter off the books, the team can now turn all its focus to the All-Star big man without financial concerns. The Spurs wouldn’t have been able to retain Green and offer Aldridge a max contract with Splitter still around, and assuming no major contracts come back in the deal, they should be able to now.

The San Antonio Spurs could be getting closer to clearing the cap space necessary to sign LaMarcus Aldridge to a maximum deal. They have talked with the Cavaliers about trading for Brendan Haywood’s $10.5 million non-guaranteed contract, according to Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News.

Haywood has a unique contract structure that allows any team to acquire him in a trade for actual outgoing salary, then immediately waive him so he doesn’t count on their cap sheet. That’s why the Cavaliers have been shopping Haywood in hopes of adding another player to improve their roster.

Since 1990, the San Antonio Spurs have won at least 47 games in every season but one. Their prize for the year they didn’t was Tim Duncan. The torch has been passed seamlessly from David Robinson, to Duncan, to the Tony Parker/Manu Ginobili duo and now to Kawhi Leonard.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the Spurs are one of the favorites to land Portland All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, the best free agent on the market that could actually leave his current team. Aldridge and Leonard would then triumphantly lead San Antonio into a new era that should be filled with many more 50-win seasons and titles.

When rumors first appeared about Aldridge planning to join a different team, the Spurs and then the Mavericks were reported to be his first choices. New reports suggest that has changed. As history has proven, it’s impossible to count out the Lakers, who despite some bad seasons remain a free agency destination. So let’s explore this rumor closely.

As Bolch says, the Lakers’ brand is too prestigious to be hurt by a couple of bad seasons. They are a storied franchise with a history of success that will always be among the best free agent destinations. For someone who has spent the first nine years of his career in a relatively small market like Portland, the exposure and endorsement opportunities that could come with playing in Los Angeles have to be tempting.

Following up on that report early Thursday ESPN’s Chris Broussard reported that a source close to Aldridge said there’s a “99.9 percent chance” he’s leaving Portland.

The other teams rumored to be in play for Aldridge include the Mavericks, Hawks, Knicks and Cavaliers.