Don't expect the Spurs to make the playoffs

The San Antonio Spurs made it perfectly clear that they're not trying to compete this year by waiving point guard Cameron Payne. They're going into the season with 12 players age 23 and younger on their roster, including six players under 21. That's a team that's trying to evaluate young players and get a high draft pick next year, not a playoff contender.

Their other offseason moves reflected a similar sensibility. San Antonio had roughly $40 million in cap space to spend this summer, but it didn't target any of the available free agents. Instead, the Spurs effectively "rented" the cap space to other teams in exchange for draft picks.

The Spurs grabbed a 2030 second-round pick for taking Cedi Osman and his $6.7M contract so the Cleveland Cavaliers could complete a sign-and-trade with the Miami Heat for Max Strus. They took on Reggie Bullock's $11 million salary to help the Dallas Mavericks pull off a sign-and-trade with the Boston Celtics for Grant Williams and got a 2030 first-round pick swap for their trouble. Acquiring Payne got them a second-rounder, and the rest of their money went to bringing back 23-year-old Tre Jones.

While Osman and Bullock could be useful players, they're also likely to be traded at the deadline — for more picks, obviously. San Antonio potentially has three first-round picks in each of the next two years and up to nine second-rounders in the next three. The Spurs could also have more than $50 million in cap space next summer.

All told, the future looks bright in San Antonio, but the immediate future looks like another trip to the lottery.