Spurs have the perfect reason to make a cold-blooded trade next season

The San Antonio Spurs are widely viewed as a top contender for the championship next season by virtue of their internal development. That being said, they did reload this offseason by adding a valuable veteran piece in Tobias Harris. Interestingly though, the front office might have just given itself a reason to make a cold-blooded trade before the deadline with this veteran addition.

With Harris now in town, Keldon Johnson has instantly become a prime candidate to get shipped away from the Alamo City. He is on an expiring contract, and his $18 million salary is not going to be difficult for teams to match. But more importantly, the Spurs now have a true justification to part ways with their longest tenured player.

Why Spurs should consider moving on from Keldon Johnson

By their own admission, Johnson is the heart and soul of the team. However, for the team to be more unassailable, it has to strongly consider moving on from its de facto team captain, who struggled mightily in the playoffs.

After winning the Sixth Man of the Year award, Johnson's numbers drastically plummeted in the postseason, averaging just 7.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per outing on 40.7 percent shooting from the field. He had a couple of good games, but aside from that, he was largely unplayable with his erratic decision-making.

Harris has all the tools and the gravitas to take over his role, and Julian Champagnie has already usurped him in the rotation anyway. There is also Carter Bryant who could receive more minutes. Even veteran Harrison Barnes can play spot minutes here and there with his more foolproof skill set.

It would be quite uncharacteristic for San Antonio to cut ties with its locker room leader, but barring a bounce-back campaign from Johnson, the Spurs are bound to yield to the stars aligning for him to get dangled away from the only franchise he has ever known.