Even though the San Antonio Spurs were swept by the Phoenix Suns in the Conference semi-finals, the franchise's front-office still believes that the team around Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili could make another championship run before said players retire. Unfortunately, the Spurs have very limited means at their disposal as they are over the cap and have few trading chips that could yield anything valuable in return.

Thus, San Antonio's priority was to keep their current players in town while exploring possibilities to improve through the usage of their MLE. Most importantly, GM R.C. Buford resigned Richard Jefferson to a four year deal worth approximately $38.8 million. Jefferson, who opted out of the last year of his contract that would have paid him $15 million 2010-11, might be overpaid, but considering the closing championship window of the Spurs' core there were hardly any alternatives. Albeit Jefferson is not coming off a particularly good year, he has proven many times that he can slash to the hoop just as well as spotting up for jumpshots. Throughout his career, the 6-7 small forward averaged 17.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 35 minutes per contest. Likewise, the Spurs also opted to resign Matt Bonner who agreed on a new contract running through 2013-14. In 2009-10, Bonner put up 7.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in just 17 minutes per game.

However, the Spurs' biggest off-season move was certainly the acquisition of Brazilian center Tiago Splitter. Splitter spent the last seven years in Europe playing for TAU Ceramica in the Spanish ACB League as well as in the Euroleague. While there has been no doubt about his NBA-level skillset, a NBA rookie contract was not very appealing from a financial point of view. However, this summer he finally decided to play for the Spurs who drafted him back in 2007. Coming off a great year in 2010, the 6-11 center was named MVP of the Spanish ACB League where he averaged 15.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 28 minutes per contest. According to sources close to the Spurs' front office he signed a three year contract worth nearly $11 million.

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