The San Antonio Spurs are divorcing for a very simple reason with LaMarcus Aldridge: he is not helping them win basketball games. The Spurs are 8.7 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor. He scores just 13.7 points per game, the least he has received since his rookie season. His 4.5 rebounds per game is a low career. At the age of 35, he physically lost too much to defend effectively in space. Most impact statistics portray Aldridge as a negative value player at this stage of his career.
But the rubbish of one team is a treasure of another team. Time and time again we have seen declining veterans land on the right contender and contribute to the win. The Lakers need Dwight Howard to win the championship last season. Brooklyn is hoping for similar success with Blake Griffin this season. Whether it’s going through a trade or a buyout, some team is going to give Aldridge a chance to turn things around this season. Here are five viable candidates to do just that.
You knew it was coming. Aldridge and former teammate Damian Lillard have been playing a part on social media for some time. Portland is so exhausted from injuries that Aldridge could play critical minutes until Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins return. There is no more comfortable destination on the board for Aldridge. Rodney Hood and his non-guaranteed salary of 2021-22 could form the basis of the salary filler. Things get trickier from there, as Enes Kanter is the next most likely piece involved in such a deal, but is currently starting out for the Blazers with Nurkic. Aldridge has a $ 24 million cap number this season. It would not be easy for the Blazers to fit that money.
There is also the question of fit. Aldridge and Carmelo Anthony have very similar shooting profiles. Do the Blazers really need two medium shooters with an inconsistent touch behind the bow? Can their defense support the two of them? The answer to both is probably no. The Blazers have bigger needs than Aldridge and need to focus their salary and capital on them. But Anthony’s signing is instructive here. Portland added him last season in an effort to have pure talent and it has largely borne fruit. Bringing in another former star can have a similar effect if used properly. A buyout would make this reunion more likely, but even if the Spurs insist on a trade, the Blazers are a team to watch in the Aldridge draw.
The Heat pursued Aldridge free agency in 2015. They follow just about every big name hitting the market. The question they have to answer regarding Aldridge is how important the name brand is to them, because currently Kelly Olynyk plays a role that is very similar to the one that Aldridge would own in Miami and do it on a higher level. Olynyk rarely takes the mid-range jumpers with whom Aldridge made a living. Few Heat players do that. But he has utilized more than 67 percent of his 2-point attempts overall this season, and while his 3-point percentage has been slightly disappointing, he is about a 37-percent three-point shooter. It’s going well with him up front. He defends and jumps back to a higher level than Aldridge currently.
Aldridge has the higher ceiling, and the Heat can believe their infrastructure can help him reach it again. Olynyk is probably the best player right now. Miami has to decide what he prefers, because Olynyk’s expiration date is likely to form the basis of his offer for Aldridge. A month ago, it was perhaps an easier decision. The Heat struggled. Now they are back on track and looking closer to the team that reached the NBA Finals last season. Do they want to waste what they already have in favor of a 35-year-old who is clearly declining? We’ll find out soon enough. The Heat have the salaries to make an Aldridge work. The question is whether they have the motivation or not.
Boston makes this list for one reason: along with Oklahoma City, it’s one of only two teams that can afford to absorb Aldridge straight. The Celtics have a $ 28.5 million trade exception from the Gordon Hayward sign-and-trade deal with Charlotte, and could theoretically use the exception to bring in Aldridge without sending a penny back to the Spurs. If a candidate in the position considers that other suitors will match Aldridge’s hefty salary, name the candidate in the position.
But will the Celtics actually chase Aldridge? This is unlikely, at least as a first choice. Boston got the chance to acquire Myles Turner in exchange for Hayward and turned down the chance. Turner is younger, cheaper and better than Aldridge. This suggests that Boston, even before he lost Hayward to the Hornets, was not exactly interested in making him a great man. A 35-year-old man would be significantly less desirable for a team whose two best players have not even seen their 25th birthday yet.
Boston will be looking for the trading market for younger, smaller players who make more sense, along with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Harrison Barnes and Jerami Grant stand out as targets in which Boston is apparently interested. If they do grow up, someone a little younger, like 30-year-old Nikola Vucevic, will make more sense. But Boston is one of the few teams that can get Aldridge relatively painless. If all else fails, they may view Aldridge as something similar to their Plan G or Plan H if the plans AF all fail.
4. Los Angeles Lakers
We reached the “buy-out only” portion of this list, as the Lakers simply do not have the corresponding salary to acquire Aldridge, especially not under the hard-hitting restrictions. Rob Pelinka’s interest in strengthening the front line has been no secret since Anthony Davis was injured. The Lakers are reportedly interested in Andre Drummond and Hassan Whiteside. They have now signed Damian Jones on several ten-day contracts. DeMarcus Cousins is even a subject of rumors.
Aldridge is not a traditional center as the players are, but he can do a function other than floor distance. The Lakers occupy the no. 25 in three-point attempts and the number 24 in the three-point percentage. Aldridge shot nearly 39 percent on three-pointers last season. If he commits to turning those ineffective mid-range jumpers into 3-pointers, he could play meaningful banking minutes for a Lakers team struggling to score when LeBron James leaves the game. Aldridge infamously met with the Lakers twice in 2015 before signing in San Antonio. The Spurs at the time offered a clearer path to a championship. However, these roles were reversed in 2021, and if that is Aldridge’s ultimate goal, he’s going to have a hard time finding a better destination than Los Angeles.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr is another “pick-me-up destination” and has always been exuberant in his praise of Aldridge. Golden State was reportedly interested in Blake Griffin before landing in Brooklyn, and Aldridge was able to play a similar role with the Warriors. Golden State’s offense falls off a cliff when Stephen Curry leaves the game. Aldridge could in theory deliver decent blows to banking units that it could not do at all this season. That he would add an extra bit of overall shooting to a grid that it silently lacks would be a bonus.
The Warriors have a slight financial advantage over the buyout field, thanks to the middle-class taxpayer exception. The question is whether Aldridge cares about money coming from three solid contracts. Is he trying to maximize his earnings? If so, the Warriors make sense, both in terms of what they can offer him now, as well as how he can possibly inflate his market value in a team that can give him enough shots. If the goal is only to win the championship? The Warriors probably did not have luck.