Spurs Wildly Overpay Manu Ginobili With $14 Million Deal

Manu Ginobili will be returning to the San Antonio Spurs for the 2016-17 season. We all knew that was likely to happen, but the problem is the $14 million the Spurs will pay him to return. Ginobili isn’t worth anything near that amount anymore.

The 38-year-old Ginobili just finished his worst statistical season since his first in the NBA way back in 2002-03. He played in 58 games, averaged a career-low 19.6 minutes per contest and contributed just 9.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game. His PER of 17.8 was awful, but actually an improvement over his mark of 16.2 from 2014-15. He also posted just 3.8 win shares and a VORP of 1.6.

Look, I realize the Spurs are just being loyal to Ginobili, but for the price they’re going to pay him, they could have brought in two useful players had they just done some careful maneuvering in free agency. They held Ginobili’s Bird rights, so this contract doesn’t hurt as far as the salary cap is concerned, but they’re spending money on a guy far past his prime. This is the exact kind of move people killed the Los Angeles Lakers for when they signed Kobe Bryant to his final, massive extension.

Reports suggest the Philadelphia 76ers offered Ginobili a massive deal that forced the Spurs to up their offer, which was initially around $3 million a year. Even if that’s true, it was a terrible decision for San Antonio to pay Ginobili that much money just to keep him around.

With Tim Duncan retired, a rapidly decomposing Tony Parker on an untradeable contract and now Ginobili making $14 million to barely contribute, the old guard of the Spurs are on their way out. It is sad to see, but what is even more depressing is watching a guy like Ginobili get paid far too much to make minimal contributions.