Spurs waive guards Courtney Fells and Dan Nwaelele

In what could be their final roster moves before the beginning of the 2013-2014 regular season, the San Antonio Spurs announced on Monday that they have waived two young guards.

The move to cut both Courtney Fells and Dan Nwaelele isn’t a shocking one, as neither player was considered a favorite to make the team, but the significance of the moves is that they bring the current roster to just 14 players for the Spurs. That is below the “max” number of 15 that a team is allowed to break camp with, and in theory, the Spurs could be done at this point in the process.

Earlier in the week, the made a more high-profile move in waiving veteran forward Corey Maggette, but Fells and Nwaelele aren’t exactly household names. Both players appeared in 3 preseason games for San Antonio (each receiving approximately 12 minutes per game of court time), most recently against Miami on Sunday for Nwaelele and in Atlanta on Thursday for Fells.

These moves from the Spurs seem to bring some security to the other players on the proverbial roster “bubble”, and guys like point guard Patty Mills are almost assuredly breathing a sigh of relief right now. The Spurs are about winning championships, and it appears that they’ve narrowed down the group they’ll use to pursue another one.