LaMarcus Aldridge done for the season

The Spurs big man underwent a procedure on his right shoulder April 24, ending his 2019-20 campaign. Aldridge is expected to be fully cleared for all basketball activities prior to the 2020-21 season.

Well this came out of nowhere.

San Antonio announced Monday afternoon LaMarcus Aldridge will miss the remainder of the 2019-20 season — or what’s left of it, at least — after undergoing an arthroscopic subacromial decompression and rotator cuff debridement on his right shoulder April 24 in Dallas. He is expected to be cleared for all basketball activities prior to the start of the 2020-21 season.

This is the first we’re hearing of the surgery, nearly a month and a half after it was done. (Also, that is the longest description of a shoulder procedure I believe I’ve ever read.) With Aldridge out for the trip to Orlando and Jakob Poeltl’s status (MCL sprain) still unclear, the Spurs are looking at some depth issues in the frontcourt ahead of their trip to Disney World.

Normally I’d say to just go ahead and pencil in Trey Lyles as one of your starting bigs, as he’s essentially filled that role all season regardless of the availability of Aldridge or Poeltl. But with all this time off it’s difficult to say with any certainty that will still be the approach San Antonio takes. Again, there have not been any official updates on Poeltl’s status coming off a knee injury, but I’m betting he’ll be ready to go barring any setbacks.

Aldridge was a net negative for the Spurs this season if you’re simply looking at the numbers on paper, but this team is not better without him. His presence as a defender and rebounder will obviously be missed, but his absence in the lineup will have a larger impact on the way San Antonio operates offensively. Nearly a quarter of the team’s possessions end as a result of the pick-and-roll, per Synergy data, and Aldridge is by far the most involved of all Spurs big men in these situations. While Poeltl is effective as a roll man, he has almost zero range and is no threat to pop, and Lyles and Rudy Gay have been much more effective as spot-up shooters.

This might mean we’ll see San Antonio’s pace pick up as it looks to create shots in transition or semi-transition more often than it normally would. Still, given the fact this team relies heavily on ball control and not turning it over, don’t count on any drastic changes in style of play — unless it treats this as some sort of grand experiment, which is unlikely. But the Spurs did tend to get out and push things more often without Aldridge on the court this season, which makes sense.

In terms of what his absence means for the roster in general, San Antonio will have an extra spot open to bring on a G-League player, a Two-Way player or a free agent who was on an NBA team this season, per the temporary rules put in place by the league. Expect to see the Spurs take advantage, but I wouldn’t count on seeing a ton of minutes from the likes of Chimezie Metu or Luka Samanic; Drew Eubanks will probably see more time than either of them, though Metu is at least something of a dark horse to see some extra time.

Regardless, San Antonio finds itself in a difficult spot. While it still has a decent chance to at least force a play-in tournament, doing so without Aldridge will be a tall task. If there’s one thing working in the Spurs’ favor it’s that they’ll be dealing with a small stretch of games (rather than a larger sample) against teams that will have had an equally long layoff. There will be rust across the board, and that could be beneficial for San Antonio, especially if it mixes in any new looks to which the opposition might not be accustomed in the middle of a sprint to the postseason.

Things just got more difficult for the Spurs, but for those fans who have been longing for something of a youth movement, you’re at least going to get a different look once play resumes at the end of July.