3 San Antonio Spurs who definitely won’t be back next season

1. Keita Bates-Diop

Bates-Diop has found something of a home with the Spurs this season, already surpassing his previous career-high for total minutes. He’s been a regular fixture in the rotation, appearing in 51 games to this point, averaging 8.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists in just over 20 minutes per game. He’s also an average wing defender, at best, who is shooting under 35 percent from beyond the arc and will turn 28 in the middle of next season.

Bates-Diop has helped the Spurs this season. But he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and even at what we can assume would be a fairly inexpensive salary next year, the Spurs could probably make better use of his roster spot. Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson will hopefully be healthy soaking up a lot more of the available wing minutes. Young players like Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley are going to need more minutes and reps and even Romeo Langford may make more sense as a low-cost, re-signing gamble with a bit more upside.

Here’s hoping Bates-Diop has done enough this season to earn another NBA contract but there’s a good chance it won’t be with the Spurs.

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