As reported earlier today, Spurs center Pau Gasol will opt out of the second year of his contract, presumably to re-sign for more years and to give the Spurs more flexibility this summer.
Immediately, that means Gasol’s cap hold goes down from its original $16.2 million mark and (according to The Vertical) brings the Spurs’ current guaranteed money for next season to $76 million. Cap holds for players like Patty Mills, Manu Ginobili and Dewayne Dedmon push that number into an area that’s still pretty gray and hypothetical, but the point is: the Spurs are getting closer to creating significant space this summer, if that’s what they want.