The San Antonio Spurs have spent the summer in the middle of trade chatter, but the idea that they could cash in on De’Aaron Fox or Keldon Johnson runs into a pretty basic problem: there doesn’t seem to be much of a market for them.
Fox, Luke Kornet and Johnson have all shown up in mock trades after lackluster NBA Finals performances. In Fox’s case, the push to move him makes sense on paper because he’s expensive and could block Dylan Harper from getting more minutes. Kornet’s name has been dragged into the rumor mill mostly because of the Finals, even though he was perfectly solid during the regular season.
Johnson is the more interesting case. He’s the longest-tenured player on the roster, he vanished in the Finals, and he’s due $17 million next season.
That’s the final year of his contract, and while the Spurs could extend him, they appear willing to let him reach unrestricted free agency next summer. Rather than risk losing him for nothing, some fans would rather see him moved now.
The issue is that Johnson’s trade value may not be nearly as strong as it looks at first glance.
He should, in theory, be a clean fit for plenty of teams. He just won Sixth Man of the Year, and his contract doesn’t run long. Last season, he put up 13.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game off the bench while shooting 36.3 percent from three and 51.9 percent from the field.
But the league doesn’t exactly line up to pay a premium for that kind of player. Johnson brings scoring, but his defense is limited, he isn’t a strong ball handler, and he can go cold from deep for long stretches. That combination tends to cap the return.
The market has already shown what it thinks of similar players. Jordan Clarkson, Anfernee Simons and Bradley Beal can all fill it up, but scoring alone hasn’t translated into major trade value.
Clarkson just signed his second veteran minimum with the Knicks, while Simons and Beal are both making around $6 million next season. That’s the reality for volume scorers who don’t bring much on defense and don’t offer high-end playmaking.
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