4. San Antonio Spurs
Courtesy of USA Today Sports: As long as the core returns in San Antonio, it will be among the league’s best.
If Tim Duncan decides to return for another season, San Antonio will be among the best in the Western Conference. This coupled with the likely return of Kawhi Leonard, who is slated to become a restricted free agent, should put the Spurs in position to contend for a title.
There are some major decisions general manager R.C. Buford will have to make in the coming weeks. Does San Antonio re-sign Manu Ginobili? If so, at what cost? What about impending free agents Danny Green and Marco Belinelli? These are decisions that will not only shape San Antonio’s roster in 2015-16, but into the future as well. As it relates to Green, he’s coming off a career season that saw him average 11.7 points and 4.2 rebounds while starting 80 games. This is what makes San Antonio so scary. Just as Ginobili slows down, it has yet another wing player to step up.
As the Spurs have done for the better part of the past two decades, they will make the right decisions here. If Ginobili and Belinelli depart in free agency, there will be other players prepared to step up. Meanwhile, Leonard will continue his ascension as one of the top two-way players in the NBA.
The larger issue for San Antonio is down the road. What will it do once Duncan decides to hang it up? Can Leonard be the true face of the franchise? Heck, will the team make a play for free agent big man LaMarcus Aldridge? After all, he has been linked to them over the past couple months. It might actually be time for Buford and company to go out there and break from their MO. That is to say, sign a top-tier free agent to take the mantle from Duncan and team up with Leonard.
As it is, San Antonio will remain in good shape in the Western Conference as long as it continues to run a tight ship from the top down. In reality, this franchise is the one constant in the ever-changing landscape of the NBA.