5 Best NBA Free Agent Signings of All Time for the San Antonio Spurs (2024)

Over the years, the San Antonio Spurs have not attracted the biggest names through free agency. This is mainly due to the small market in San Antonio, despite the Spurs being one of the most successful teams in NBA history. Most of their success has been built through the NBA Draft, where they have selected players such as Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Manu Ginobili , and Tony Parker.

Even without signing the biggest names, the Spurs have brought plenty of free agents to Alamo City who have had a major impact on their franchise. San Antonio has won five championships since 1999, which is tied with the L.A. Lakers for the most during that timeframe. Although the Spurs have had success through the draft and developing players, they would not have won these championships without the help of some key free-agent signings.

The Spurs front office has been able to make multiple deals to help shape the team into a championship-caliber team. Here are the Spurs' five best free-agent signings of all time.

5 Robert Horry (2003)

Contract: 2 years, $9.5 million

Robert Horry signed a 2-year, $9.5 million contract with the Spurs in the summer of 2003. San Antonio had just won their second championship in franchise history, while Horry was coming off of his final season in his stint with the Los Angeles Lakers. Horry was never the best player on a team, but success followed him wherever he went. By the end of his 16-year career, Horry had played in seven championships, winning all of them. This includes the two championships in 2005 and 2007 that he won while in San Antonio.

Horry played five seasons in the Silver and Black, averaging 4.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 332 games. He also shot 35.0 percent from three-point range in San Antonio. He was known for knocking down clutch shots, which gave him the nickname "Big Shot Bob."

Horry was a key part in helping the Spurs win a championship in 2005 against the Detroit Pistons . In game five of the series, Horry scored 21 points in the final 17 minutes of the game, including the game-winner. The Spurs won the series in seven games, giving the franchise their third championship and Horry his sixth. Horry went on to win his seventh championship in 2007 after the Spurs swept LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers . The next season, Horry played in just 45 games and retired from the NBA after the season.

4 Danny Green (2011)

Contract: 1 year, $984K

Danny Green's NBA career started off rocky. He was drafted 46th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers but played just 20 games during his rookie season before being waived.

He was then picked up by the Spurs in 2010 before being waived after playing just two games. During the 2011 season, Green signed with the Spurs once again and played for the Austin Toros of the NBA G-League. He then signed a deal with the KK Union Olimpija in 2011 that included an NBA out clause option for when the 2011 NBA lockout ended. After the lockout, Green returned to the Spurs on a one-year, $984 thousand contract.

Green started 38 of the 66 games that he played in during the 2011-12 season, allowing Manu Ginobili to come off of the bench. He broke out during the season, finishing ninth in voting for Most Improved Player. Green went on to play seven seasons in the Alamo City, averaging 9.1 points per game and shooting 39.6 percent from three.

In his seven seasons in San Antonio, Green became a solid three-and-D player. He helped the Spurs win the championship in 2014 against Miami Heat 's big three of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosch. In the season prior, Green set the then-NBA record for most three-point field goals made in a Finals series with 23.

He continued to be a key part of the Spurs' lineup for the next several seasons, even being named to the All-Defensives Second Team in 2017. Green was traded in the 2018 offseason in the trade that sent Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors and DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl to San Antonio. Green went on to win a championship with both the Raptors and the Lakers.

3 Avery Johnson (1994)

Contract: 1 year, $650K

Avery Johnson had already had two stints in San Antonio before signing a one-year, $650 thousand contract with them in 1994. The previous two stints with the Spurs did not go as well as after he signed with the team in 1994. He finished sixth in the Most Improved Player voting after the 1994-95 season. In the eight seasons after signing, Johnson became the Spurs' starting point guard. He was a great floor general who averaged 6.9 assists in 644 games in the Alamo City. He also averaged 10.1 points and 1.1 steals while shooting 48.7 percent from the field.

Johnson was a huge part of helping the Spurs win the franchise's first championship in 1999. In game five of the Finals against the New York Knicks , Johnson made a corner jumper to give the Spurs a one-point lead in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

The Spurs never gave up the lead en route to their first NBA championship. Johnson was critiqued his entire career for being too small to be a starting point guard at just 5-10. The undrafted player proved the doubters wrong by helping the Spurs win a championship and eventually got his number 6 jersey retired by the Spurs after his career was over.

2 LaMarcus Aldridge

Contract: 4 Years, $84 million

Although LaMarcus Aldridge is the only player to never win a championship with the Spurs on this list, he was the Spurs' most talented free agent signing ever. Aldridge signed a four-year, $84 million contract with San Antonio in the summer of 2015.

At the time, Aldridge was coming off of the best NBA season of his career, where he finished seventh in MVP voting as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers . Even though Aldridge was 30 years old by the time he became a Spur, he was still an All-Star caliber player. He went on to play the next six seasons in the Alamo City, where he made the All-Star game three times and was a two-time All-NBA selection.

In over 375 games with the Spurs, Aldridge averaged 19.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 50.2 percent from the field. He helped lead the Spurs to two 60-win seasons in both the 2015-16 and 2016–17 seasons. That included the best record in franchise history during the 2015-16 season, where the Spurs finished the regular season 67-15, including the best home record in NBA history at 40-1.

Unfortunately, the Spurs fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the playoffs. The very next season, the Spurs posted another 60-win season, the first in the post-Tim Duncan era. San Antonio was then swept in the Western Conference Finals by the Golden State Warriors after blowing a huge lead in game one after Zaza Pachulia injured Kawhi Leonard . Aldridge went on to play for the Spurs until he and the team reached a contract buyout agreement during the 2021 season.

1 Bruce Bowen (2001)

Contract: 1 year, $715K

The best free agent signing in Spurs' history is Bruce Bowen. Bowen signed with the Spurs in the summer of 2001 on a one-year veteran's minimum. He went on to play the rest of his career in the Silver and Black, winning three championships. In his eight seasons in the Alamo City, Bowen averaged 6.4 points and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 40.5 percent from three. He started over 500 games and played in less than 80 games just once during his stint with the Spurs.

Although Bowen did not put up eye-popping stats, he played a pivotal role in helping San Antonio win a championship in 2003, 2005, and 2007. He was a great three-point shooter, including leading the entire NBA in three-point percentage during the 2002-03 season, where he shot 44.1 percent. Bowen was also a brilliant defender who was voted to the All-Defensive team seven of his eight years in San Antonio. He also finished runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year voting three times. Bowen finished his career as a member of the Spurs in 2009 and had his number 12 jersey retired by the team in 2012.