The San Antonio Spurs bet on Zach Collins during last free agency. So they signed a three-year, $22 million contract to a player who has been unable to settle in the NBA due to injuries.
Indeed, Collins has not played an official game in the league since August 2020, in full celebration of the Orlando bubble due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then two surgeries to treat a fracture in his left foot have kept him in dry dock, the last one last June.
Completed the first half of the regular season, Collins’ debut in a Spurs jersey is close to happening. The Texas franchise has assigned the Austin Spurs of the Development League to the interior, with whom it registered eight points in 19 minutes in the duel against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers held on Monday.
According to the journalist San Antonio Express News, Tom Orsborn, the idea is that Collins play one more game with the reserve team before returning to the discipline of the Spurs to full time. However, head coach Gregg Popovich has been more cautious. “He’s been gone a long time. He needs time to get his rhythm back, feel comfortable and have confidence in himself, both physically and in his game.”
Of course, the Spurs covered their backs in signing the agreement with the tenth pick of the 2017 draft. Collins is fully guaranteed only his first year. The second is only partially so and the last one does not present any type of guarantees, so it could be cut without affecting the salary coffers of the franchise.
(Cover photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
