Jimmer Fredette was surprised the Spurs signed him.
Considering they guaranteed $507,711 of his salary – a pretty whopping sum for just a training-camp player – this might be more surprising.
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports:
The San Antonio Spurs are waiving guard Jimmer Fredette today, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 21, 2015
Fredette is a good 3-point shooter when he can get his shot off. But he’s point guard sized and an a poor distributor. He’s an even worse defender.
He’s a borderline NBA player who probably belongs in the league, though not necessarily on this deep Spurs squad. That they saw enough in him to give such a large guarantee is a little surprising, but they might have just wanted to get the best player possible into camp. Over the salary cap and under the luxury-tax line, it’s just money.
This leaves six Spurs without guaranteed salaries behind 13 with fully guaranteed salaries:
- Matt Bonner
- Reggie Williams
- Rasual Butler
- Youssou Ndoye
- Keifer Sykes
- Deshaun Thomas
Who will snag the final two regular-season roster spots?
Bonner, the only Spur with a partial guarantee ($749,594), seems like a safe bet. But considering San Antonio just waived the partially guaranteed Fredette, I’m not completely certain.
After Bonner, Williams or Butler looks like favorites. With the winner of that competition getting an NBA salary and the loser walking away with nothing, the stakes are high.
Fredette, on the other hand, will get more than half a million dollars for a few weeks of practice and a couple preseason games.
