NBA Free Agency 2018: 5 most puzzling contract decisions

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1. Marco Belinelli, San Antonio Spurs — two years, $12 million

Once a Spur, always a Spur.

That refrain depicts a brotherhood that has been the crux of a dynasty over the past 20 years in the NBA. Yet as that dynasty crumbles, the way that San Antonio prizes player it has a history with looks more worrisome, perhaps better suited for coach Gregg Popovich’s epic alumni reunion dinners than for the basketball court.

Belinelli, as you remember, won a championship in 2014 with the Spurs. He shot 42 percent from 3 in those playoffs and found the court for 15 minutes per game off the bench as a key floor-spacing cog in the team’s drive-and-kick machine. That value has wilted since we last saw him in San Antonio.

The 32-year-old veteran will always provide value as a shooter, but he developed un-Spursian shot-chucking habits in Atlanta and Charlotte that tanked his efficiency. When you compare his game to that of other shooters on this year’s market, it’s clear he got overpaid. If only every free agent had the benefit of a history with a franchise that over-values familiarity.

Joe Harris, six years Belinelli’s junior, cost just $2 million extra per year for Brooklyn. Even Wayne Ellington would have provided a younger option for the same price — he also stayed with the incumbent Heat. In terms of opportunity cost, it’s tough to believe San Antonio could not have overpaid for one of these younger, more efficient options if they were willing to do a two-year deal.

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The Spurs entered the Summer with the entire mid-level exception at their disposal, and simply busted into part of it to grab Belinelli to add to their middling roster. Why not give the entirety of it someone like Harris, who would likely get even better working with Chip Engelland, after a breakout with the Nets?

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