The Red Mamba is back! You know, if the San Antonio Spurs want him.
The Spurs may not know the future plans of their top stars quite yet, but Matt Bonner is more than willing to give it another spin in silver and black.
"I hope to be back," the 35-year-old Bonner said to Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News. "I love playing for the Spurs. I love everything about the organization and everybody in the organization – players, coaches, staff members. I hope they will all be back for next year."
Bonner may not get his wish, with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and Marco Belinelli set for unrestricted free agency and several others hitting the market as restricted free agents. Bonner, too, is an unrestricted free agent and should be able to find a market for his services at the league minimum, a $1.5-million salary for someone with his service time.
It's somewhat hard to believe, but Bonner, the No. 45 overall pick in 2003, has now played 11 NBA seasons, nine of them with the Spurs. At 6-foot-10, he's been steady as one of the league's stretch-four specialists, able to spread the defense out from a frontcourt position.
His role's been minimal over the last three seasons, but he has the trust of head coach Gregg Popovich in certain matchups and even started 19 games this season. With or without roster turnover, it seems likely the Spurs would be on board with preserving continuity at the end of their bench and to bringing Bonner back for another season.
In 762 career games, Bonner, who wants to play until he's 40, has averaged six points and 3.1 rebounds in 17.3 minutes, knocking down 41.4 percent of his 3-point attempts.
And, hey, if the Spurs don't want him back, there's always his other career as a red-headed superhero.
