Spurs to guarantee Zach Collins' $7.35M salary for 2022-23 season

The Spurs have decided to guarantee Zach Collins‘ salary for the 2022-23 season, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News.

Collins signed a three-year, $22M deal with San Antonio last summer, but only the first year was fully guaranteed. His 2022-23 salary of $7.35M was partially guaranteed for half that figure ($3.675M). Keeping him under contract through today’s salary guarantee deadline will ensure he receives the full amount. His $7.7M cap hit for 2023-24 remains non-guaranteed.

A series of foot injuries have limited Collins to just 39 games since the start of the 2019-20 season, but 28 of those came for the Spurs in the second half of 2021-22. In those 28 appearances, he put up 7.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 17.9 minutes per contest, flashing some of the promise that made him the 10th overall pick in 2017.

Bartelstein is confident that bigger things are ahead for his client, as he said to Orsborn: “He is going to have an amazing summer and will take his game to another level next season.”

The Spurs now have nine players on fully guaranteed salaries for 2022-23, with Thursday’s three draft picks — Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley — expected to join that group. Keita Bates-Diop, Tre Jones and Jock Landale remain under contract without full guarantees.