LaMarcus Aldridge is heading back home to Texas and the San Antonio Spurs are heading back to the top of the list of favorites in the Western Conference.

One of the most coveted free agents on the market picked the Spurs over several suitors, including the Lakers, Heat, Rockets, Knicks, Mavericks, Suns and Trail Blazers, the team for which he played the first nine seasons of his career.

“I’m happy to say I’m going home to Texas and will be a Spur!!” the Dallas native tweeted. “I’m excited to join the team and be close to my family and friends.”

Aldridge, a 6-foot-11 power forward, averaged a career-high 23.4 points and also grabbed 10.2 rebounds per game while playing with an injured thumb last season.

But after nine years in Portland, he hit the free agent market with many assuming he was headed elsewhere, and the Spurs pounced. Aldridge took two meetings with the Lakers and the Spurs, who brought Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, Coach Gregg Popovich and GM R.C. Buford to the first one on Wednesday.

Every team Aldridge met with was offering the four-year maximum contract worth an estimated $80 million.

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Ultimately he picked the team that has won five championships since 1999.

The Spurs offered him a chance to play in his home state, a chance to join the most successful franchise of the modern era and a chance to take the torch from Duncan, who will return for a 19th season.

After winning the championship in 2014, the Spurs were eliminated in seven games by the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs this year. With their famed trio of Duncan, point guard Tony Parker and shooting guard Manu Ginobili aging, Buford and Popovich have deftly set up the long-term health of the franchise with several moves this summer.

They started by signing Leonard, the reigning defensive player of the year and the NBA Finals MVP in 2014, to a five-year max contract and also locked up shooting guard Danny Green on a four-year, $45 million deal.

Then they traded big man Tiago Splitter to the Atlanta Hawks to help clear some of the necessary salary cap room to land Aldridge, 29, and it all paid off on Saturday.

 Becky Hammon had known for some time that she was going to be coaching San Antonio’s summer league team in Las Vegas.

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When her phone blew up Friday, she knew the secret was out.

Hammon spoke out for the first time Saturday about the history-making move by the Spurs, who have given the former WNBA star player the chance to become the first woman who’ll serve as a head coach in an NBA summer league. She’ll lead San Antonio’s entry in the Las Vegas league – the biggest of the three NBA summer showcases – starting next weekend.

“I’m still seeing what kind of head coach I’m going to be,” Hammon told reporters in San Antonio.

THUNDER: Kevin Durant says next summer can wait.

Next season is his only priority at this point.

The Oklahoma City star – limited to 27 games last season because of injuries – was at the NBA summer league games in Orlando on Saturday, and said he would be ready for next season and he hasn’t thought about the summer of 2016 when he likely will be the biggest domino in a free-agent class that already seems certain to earn incredibly large deals as the league’s salary cap skyrockets.

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“I haven’t thought about it,” Durant said before the Thunder summer team played its opening game. “I hear it all the time but I’m really just focusing on rehab. I can’t get there unless I take care of today, so that’s how I try to look at it even though I hear it from every side, thinking past to next summer. I’m not even trying to focus on that. I’m excited about our team, new coaches and just trying to get back right.”

PELICANS: People familiar with the negotiations say New Orleans and forward Dante Cunningham have agreed on a three-year contract extension worth about $9 million.

The Pelicans first signed the 6-foot-8 Cunningham as a free agent last December. He played in 66 regular season games, starting 27, and averaged 5.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in 25 minutes.

MAGIC: A person with knowledge of the details says Tobias Harris has agreed to sign a new contract to remain with Orlando.

The person says the deal for Harris – a restricted free agent – is for four years and $64 million.

The 22-year-old forward averaged a career-high 17.1 points last season, while also shooting a career-best 36 percent from the 3-point line.


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