Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks Want San Antonio Spurs Center Tiago Splitter
By Bryan Rose
While the San Antonio Spurs have the Golden State Warriors to worry about right now, they might be looking in their rear view at a few more teams, specifically the Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks.
According to NBA.com’s Sekou Smith, both the Mavericks and Hawks have San Antonio Spurs big man Tiago Splitter on their “short list” while a handful of other teams are also showing interest in the upcoming restricted free agent.
"The Spurs have the right of first refusal and will exercise that right if the offers come in at the right number. But Dallas and Atlanta have to have him on their short lists, with several other teams focusing in on him early on in the process."
As Smith mentions in the piece, the Spurs do hold the ability to match any offer Splitter would sign, but at what cost? The premium on NBA big men isn’t cheap and with a handful of teams like the aforementioned Mavericks clearing out their cap space, it’s possible Splitter could cash in.
NBA GM’s do strange things for near seven footers – after all, it wasn’t that long ago that Darko Milicic signed a four year, $20 million dollar deal.
The 28-year-old Splitter averaged 10 points and nearly 6.5 rebounds in 25 minutes a night this past season.