Grade the deal: Spurs, Danny Green agree to four-year contract

The San Antonio Spurs and guard Danny Green agreed to a four-year, $45 million deal

The San Antonio Spurs and shooting guard Danny Green agreed to a four-year, $45 million deal, ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard reports.

Green is the second Spurs player to sign a multiyear deal, following the five-year, $90 million deal signed by forward and 2014 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard.

Green set career-highs across the board last season, averaging 11.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and two assists per game. He hit 42% from 3-point range while starting 80 of the 81 games he played.

The 28-year-old Green has spent the last five seasons with the Spurs, after being originally drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2009 NBA draft.

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The Spurs are still in play to sign unrestricted free agent All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who reportedly will meet with San Antonio on Wednesday after meeting six other teams on Tuesday.

The Spurs have six free agents on their roster, including 39-year old Tim Duncan and 37-year Manu Ginobili. Ginobili has not made his intentions about playing next season known.

ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst reports that the Atlanta Hawks have traded for center Tiago Splitter.

The potential trade and other moves would create more cap space for the Spurs as Spittler’s $8.5 million salary for next season comes off the books.

Analysis: No team in the NBA takes care of its internal business quite like the Spurs. San Antonio had a chance to carve out max cap room and retain most of its key pieces provided that team officials convinced Kawhi Leonard to wait before signing any offer sheet and secured the trust of Danny Green to either sit out or wait out the market. Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford did themselves one better in both cases by agreeing with Leonard to the terms of a secure, five-year deal and committing to bring back Green at a relative bargain.

Make no mistake: Four years and $45 million is an outstanding value for Green, who ranks as both one of the best three-point shooters and best perimeter defenders in the game. Too often 3-and-D types are a stretch in one of those two crucial departments. Green is exemplary in both regards, and yet he’ll be paid significantly less over the life of his next deal than other free agents of comparable roles. To get Green back at this rate at all is a coup for San Antonio. That the specifics of Green’s return – in conjunction with the Spurs’ other deals – might ultimately help land LaMarcus Aldridge is just gravy. - Rob Mahoney

Grade: A+