Considering that the NBA Finals are over, it is time to start looking to the next season. The NBA draft is starting next week, and it looks like teams like the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks are going to be changing up their teams for a better season for 2016. This is what has been heard as far as NBA Trade Rumors for the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks, and one name seems to surface with both of them: LaMarcus Aldridge.
One name that looked like the Spurs were pursuing with all deliberate speed was the Trail Blazers star LaMarcus Aldridge. According to CBS Sports, the Spurs have "faded as a potential free agent suitor" for this player. Apparently, the Dallas Mavericks are more like to have this player, but Aldridge might just stay with Portland. Aldridge has expressed frustration when the Trail Blazers feel in the first round of the playoffs, but he averaged 21.8 points and 11 rebounds per game.
Another player that both the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks are interested in is Nemanja Bjelica. In fact, there are reports that the Miami Heat, the Brooklyn Nets, and the Chicago Bulls are looking at this player, but he will most likely go to the Minnesota Timberwolves if there isn't some kind of agreement made.
The San Antonio Spurs are about a year away from losing some prime players, according to ESPN Go. Tim Duncan's contract will expire when the free agency period begins on July 1st, but Tony Parker, fellow player and point guard for the Spurs, believes that both Duncan and Manu Ginobili will be back for one more year. One player that the Spurs were seriously considering was Marc Gasol, who tops the list of unrestricted free agents this summer, but NBC Sports says that this player will most likely stay with the Memphis Grizzlies.
According to ESPN Go, it sounds like Dirk Nowitzki, who is taken an unofficial role as the lead recruiter for the Dallas Mavericks, would be glad to have LaMarcus Aldridge on the team, saying: "He's a great midrange shooter. He plays bigger than he is on the defensive end. He's a good rebounder on both ends of the floor and on that left block, he's a beast. So I mean, he's a really, really good player."
Nowitzki had other things to say about players that could be traded. For example, on shooting guard Monta Ellis, who has a June 24th deadline to exercise his player option for the final season of his $25 million dollar deal, Nowitzki guesses that he will opt out. As for Tyson Chandler, who will be a free agent, he doesn't know whether or not the player will be staying or going.
So, with both the Spurs and the Mavericks trying for LaMarcus, who knows which team will get him? After the NBA Draft officially gets underway, we'll see teams and their new players, and NBA Trade Rumors will abound after that as well.
