One of the more underrated signings of the free agency period last summer was David West joining the San Antonio Spurs. The reason it was such a remarkable turn of events was that the veteran forward took such an enormous pay-cut in order to join a contender.
West had a player’s option for the final year of his contract with the Indiana Pacers, which was worth approximately $12.2 million. Instead, he signed with the Spurs for the veteran’s minimum, which was just a little more than $1 million at the time. According to West, it was a rather easy decision then, and he didn’t change his tune when he was once again asked about it by reporters recently.
@David_West30 on if being w/ #Spurs has been worth $11 mill he walked away from in Indy: "Probably more. It's been everything
for me."— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) March 7, 2016
To be certain, his minutes and productivity are at career-lows all across the board. That’s a difficult reality for many players to accept. But Gregg Popovich and the Spurs have a knack for getting guys to buy into their philosophy, and it shouldn’t be surprising why. Not only does their success speak for itself, they play an extremely fun brand of basketball.
And though West has had a diminished role during the regular season, it’s not hard to imagine him being an x-factor in a playoff series depending on how the match-ups fall into place.
