Spurs Acquire Harrison Barnes, Waive Charles Bassey, and Trade RaiQuan Gray

Monday the San Antonio Spurs completed a 3-team trade with the Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls to land forward Harrison Barnes and a future pick swap.

The Spurs’ acquisition of forward Harrison Barnes is complete.

In their press release, the Spurs announced the following details:

• The Spurs acquired Barnes and a 2031 first round pick swap from the Kings.

• The Bulls acquired Spurs two-way player RaiQuan Gray.

With the news just breaking, I’m trying to understand myself what cap gymnastics the Spurs put together to acquire Barnes while being able to keep Julian Champagnie on the team.

Here’s some early questions I have about the transaction, and if the details come out later, I’ll make sure to update this piece.

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How were the Spurs able to keep Champagnie?

By waiving Bassey first, the Spurs sat with $17.2 million in cap space assuming Paul signed for $11 million (we don’t know Paul’s actual contract number yet). The assumption was Julian Champagnie, who has a non-guaranteed $3 million contract, would have had to been waived to absorb Barnes’ $19.85 million salary into cap space.

Champagnie is still on the roster, so I’m curious how the Spurs were able acquire Barnes and keep Champagnie. That answer might come from the next question.

Again, if some of the cap gurus on Twitter like Bobby Marks, Keith Smith, or Yossi Gozlan explain this, I’ll make sure to update with their answers.

UPDATE 5:35 PM MT: Here was Gozlan’s assessment.

This could make more sense, if Barnes either waived his trade kicker, or Paul signed for less than the reported $11 million.

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Where does the Spurs’ roster stand now?

With Barnes on the roster and Bassey off the team, the Spurs now have 13 players on full NBA deals. This means the Spurs can still add 2 more full NBA roster players before opening night of the regular season.

With Gray off the team, the Spurs now have 2 open two-way contract slots. One of those spots might go to rookie Harrison Ingram.

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What moves can the Spurs still make?