SAN ANTONIO -- As the Spurs put the finishing touches on their roster for the 2026-27 season, they have retained a player they like a lot in David Jones Garcia .
According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the 24-year-old guard out of the Dominican Republic has agreed to another Two-Way contract with San Antonio after earning one last year at Summer League and playing 11 games with the G League Austin Spurs and 11 at the NBA level. The Spurs later confirmed the report. Jones Garcia is coming off an ankle injury and surgery that ended his season early last year.
Jones Garcia stopped by Summer League before the contract was agreed to, sitting courtside and supporting the Spurs. He talked some trash, and talked for a bit with Spurs assistant coach Scott King who also came from the Austin pipeline. Spurs' general manager Brian Wright stopped by to say hello as well.
"He's a heckuva kid," Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said last year. "He has this way about him... the guys just love him."
Jones Garcia has generated interest from teams overseas, but he accepted his first Two-Way contract in large part because he told his late father that he would play in the NBA.
According to the NBA's stats, Jones Garcia averaged 25.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.9 steals per game for Austin. He shot 41% from the field and 30% from beyond the arc, and was top-five in scoring in the G League before the injury he suffered in January. DJG didn't play a ton for the big team, but on a night when they were particularly thin at guard he filled in well with 12 points, five rebounds, six assists, and three steals in a win over the Hawks .
"I'm proud of myself... I hope my dad is proud of me too," he said.
DJG will help as another bit of depth for a San Antonio team that's a bit top-heavy in their guard rotation, slotting in behind De'Aaron Fox, Steph Castle, Dylan Harper , and Jordan McLaughlin .
Two-Way contracts are for players with under three years of NBA experience, and allow him to play in the G League and up to 50 games for the NBA team. Teams can have up to three in addition to their 15 standard roster spots. These contracts are for half of the veteran minimum, and they do not count against the team's salary cap. Players are not eligible to play in the postseason unless they are converted to a standard NBA contract.
Currently the Spurs have 14 standard roster spots filled, and Jones Garcia became the fourth Two-Way. Emanuel Miller was on his third Two-Way deal, while Ja'Kobi Gillespie and Maliq Brown are both entering the league after San Antonio selected them in the middle of the second round. Gillespie averaged 16 points and 4.3 assists per game in Las Vegas, capping it off with a 25-point performance in a win over the Jazz .
The empty spot on the main roster doesn't mean the Spurs get an extra Two-Way, so they had to make another move before the start of the season.
If the Spurs do fill that 15th roster spot before the start of the season, they would almost certainly want to sign a player with zero NBA experience. The veteran minimum goes up with experience , and if they sign anyone with any experience at all they'll go into the luxury tax. The tax bill wouldn't be awful this year, but going from a non-tax team to a tax team is something the Spurs will want to avoid so that they can delay the highly-punitive "repeater tax" for as long as possible.
The Spurs could have converted Gillespie or Brown to a standard deal before the season, stayed under the tax line, and kept Miller as a Two-Way, but according to Yahoo's Kelly Iko , San Antonio instead decided to waive Miller.
As of now, it looks like they'll leave the final roster spot open and potentially convert one of Gillespie, Brown, or Jones Garcia down the line.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/spurs/onsi as What's Next For Spurs After Signing David Jones Garcia to Two-Way Contract? .
