The San Antonio Spurs, despite being in contention for most of the past 20 years, are clearly in rebuild mode. And with Jakob Poeltl in the last year of the three-year, $26.3 million extension he signed in 2020, it's no wonder why other teams with dreams of playoff contention, namely the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors, have been circling around the Spurs center in a potential trade.
While Poeltl knows that being involved in trade talks is just part of being an NBA player – he should know, for he's already been traded in his career, in a deal for Kawhi Leonard, no less – he dropped all pretense and admitted that it sometimes feels difficult when his playing circumstances stretch beyond his control.
This is why Jakob Poeltl is embracing the prospect of entering unrestricted free agency for the first time come season's end.
“I’ve never been in this situation where unrestricted free agency is coming up. It’s a cool situation for sure, because in the NBA, a lot of times you are — I don’t want to say stuck — but it feels like you’re a little bit of a pawn. They can just trade you around wherever they want. It’s not the mentality you should have while you’re playing, but it’s the reality of it. Your contract can get passed around, more or less, whenever and however they want. So it’s nice to be in this situation where you can kind of decide your own fate and evaluate what’s going to be the best situation for me,” Poeltl said, per Yahoo! Sports.
That sounds like a man who's hell-bent to take matters into his own hands when given the chance to choose his next destination. Still, Jakob Poeltl should take solace in the fact that he's not just some pawn who's meant to reach the other side of the board and be turned into a queen. He is coveted around the league, with the Raptors looking forward to a potential reunion ever since trading him away in 2018.
At the moment, Poeltl is dealing with a knee injury that has kept him out of the Spurs' past seven games. On the season, the 27-year old center is averaging 12.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 1.0 block per game.
It's not quite clear whether the Warriors or Raptors would pony up the Spurs' asking price of two first-rounders, given Poeltl's free agency. One thing's for sure: Jakob Poeltl would provide any team that would get his services in a potential trade with hard-nosed interior defense and with underrated playmaking, a solid boost for a potential deep playoff run.
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