The trade deadline is today, but in a deal yesterday, the Spurs acquired Kurt Thomas from the Sonics. In return, Seattle receives Brent Barry, Francisco Elson and a 2009 first round pick.
“We need things that they don’t and they need things that may not fit here right now,” Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. “Hopefully the addition of Kurt will strengthen our playoff push.”
“I think the landscape of the West has put a premium on interior defense,” Buford said. “Now with the trades of recent days, that’s only improved.”
Thomas was the odd man out in Seattle as soon as the team decided to give Robert Swift more minutes. All three players have expiring contracts, so there’s no real salary cap advantage for either team. The Sonics are stockpiling young players and picks, and saw an opportunity to get another first round pick for Thomas. Ironically, when the Suns initially traded Thomas to Seattle, they also included two first round picks, so the Sonics have now garnered three first round picks for taking on Thomas’ $8 million salary for a season. They’ll likely use these multiple picks to move up in future drafts. It will be interesting to see how this strategy pans out.
As Buford mentioned, this move was a response to the Pau Gasol and Shaquille O’Neal trades made by the Lakers and Suns, respectively. Thomas’ job will be to defend big bodies so that Tim Duncan doesn’t have to. For a time, it looked as if Elson would fill that role, but he wasn’t able to get much traction in San Antonio. The Spurs will miss Barry’s sharpshooting; he’s one of the best three-point specialists in the game. I think this move is a vote of confidence for Ime Udoka, who should see increased playing time off the bench.
I would have liked to have seen the Spurs use Barry and Elson to trade for Mike Miller, who is on the trading block in Memphis. But they chose size over offense in Thomas.
