With the NBA Draft less than 24 hours away, trade rumors involving the San Antonio Spurs have been ramping up.
On Tuesday, San Antonio Spurs guard Dejounte Murray tweeted the eyeballs emoji with no context.
Wednesday evening though, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report wrote the Spurs and Atlanta Hawks have had trade discussions centered around a deal of Murray for John Collins, who the Spurs reportedly had interest in last offseason.
Fischer reported the Spurs have been fielding offers from teams for Murray, but the trade package they want in return would be a ‘Jrue Holiday-like package.’ Back when Holiday was traded from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Pelicans were able to acquire three future first round picks, with two pick swaps in the deal.
Almost one hour after Fischer’s story was released, Murray tweeted the story himself with more eyeball emojis and a bucket of popcorn.
Uh Ohhhhhhhhh 🍿 https://t.co/1NeNKS9oYG
— Dejounte Murray (@DejounteMurray) June 23, 2022
Fischer writes one of the reasons the Spurs may be trying to move Murray now is because they may want to continue their rebuild and he’ll be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2024, when he would likely want to sign a max contract.
If the Spurs were to trade Murray for a trade package around future picks, it would be a signal that the franchise does indeed intend to continue toward a rebuild. If the deal was with the Hawks centered around Collins, one could read that type of deal two ways from the Spurs’ perspective: a) they’re seeing what Collins could do with an expanded role that he didn’t have in Atlanta alongside Trae Young, when he’s still just 24, and under contract up until 2024-2025 (player option the following season) or b) they may try to trade Collins for additional assets whether this offseason or during the season before the February trade deadline.
Spurs Interest in Vasilje Micic
Fischer also reported the Spurs are among a few NBA teams interested in 28 year old 6’5″ Serbian point guard Vasilje Micic.
Micic just finished playing internationally with Anadolu Efes, a Turkish professional club. He averaged 17.7 points, shot 37.8% from three, collected 2.65 rebounds, and 4.98 assists per game in 29.1 minutes.
Micic was drafted way back in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round, but his draft rights were later traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Any NBA team wanting to sign Micic would have to acquire his draft rights via trade from the Thunder.
