Report: The Spurs could be interested in keeping Jakob Poeltl

The NBA Trade Deadline is about three-and-a-half weeks away on February 9, and the Spurs are expected to be major players again after they surprised last year with the Derrick White trade. With San Antonio expected to be givers more than receivers, the three names that have come up the most in trade rumors are Doug McDermott, Josh Richardson, and Jakob Poeltl.

All three could be extremely useful to any playoff team and are the type of role players who could be that “one last piece” to get a contender over the hump. With the Spurs now in a rebuild, they have been open to listening to offers — for the right price. They have no reason to rush or take an underwhelming offer from anyone, so they’re taking their time and not caving to lowball deals.

However, while no one would be surprised to see either of those three players go, the Spurs reportedly rightfully have an extremely high asking price for specifically for Poeltl, and not just because he’s high demand and they want to milk another team of all their future assets (like they did with Dejounte Murray and the Hawks). According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Spurs believe Poeltl (not Hurdle, Woj) would make an excellent front court partner to Victor Wembanyama and would very much like to keep him unless an offer too good to refuse comes along.

While he could signed an extension worth 4 years, $58 million during the season, Poeltl likely knows he could get more than that in free agency, and the Spurs will have the money to work with him. He has said multiple times that he is interested in staying in San Antonio, so he would likely be willing to negotiate if they choose to wait out this season, see what happens in the draft, then get to work in free agency. Even if the Spurs don’t get Wemby, they could still want Poeltl back, but both parties would also have the option to move on if they choose.

Some may scoff at the idea of potentially losing Poeltl for nothing in free agency, or maybe they believe the Spurs are doing him a disservice by not sending him to a playoff team, but if he wants to stick around and the Spurs see a future for him here, there’s no reason to trade him. Not to mention, as good as he is, it would be quite a stretch to say he’s irreplaceable if the Spurs end up losing him for nothing.

It will be interesting to see what happens between now and the Trade Deadline, but it sounds like Spurs fans shouldn’t be surprised if he’s still in San Antonio, especially considering the offers they have and/or are expected to receive for him. If Poeltl is still a Spur at 2:01 PM CT on February 9, that may very well mean PATFO has future plans for him.