LaMarcus Aldridge chooses the San Antonio Spurs

“I’m happy to say that I’m going home to Texas and will be a Spur!!”

Aldridge and his ability to be a dominant player on both sides of the ball will help the Spurs in the pursuit of another National Basteball Association championship. Aldridge’s representatives did not respond to requests for further comment beyond the tweet. Once the photos surfaced of Popovich having lunch with Aldridge in Los Angeles on Friday, then strolling around the streets with him like old friends, you knew it was over. The Mavericks tried to sell him on coming home. I was listening to The Lowe Post, the can’t-miss podcast from Grantland.com’s Zach Lowe, and Lowe’s colleague Marc Stein explained that Gasol wouldn’t be listening to pitches from teams, the Spurs were the only other team that remotely interested him.

The All-Star forward will leave Portland and join the Spurs, where he and Kawhi Leonard can lead the franchise into a new era. Aldridge became the franchise’s all-time leading rebounder in March, passing Drexler.

Aldridge’s departure leaves a mammoth roster void for the Blazers, who are in the middle of one of the greatest roster shakeups in recent memory and appear headed for another rebuilding effort. In late June, the Blazers sent Nicolas Batum to Charlotte for veteran shooting guard Gerald Henderson and 19-year-old power forward Noah Vonleh.

No translation needed for that part.

The Spurs signed Danny Green to a four-year deal worth $45 million just moments before finalizing a trade with the Atlanta Hawks for center Tiago Splitter. He’s averaged more than 20 points per game each of the past five seasons, finishing with a career-high 23.4 this past season with 10.2 rebounds per game in 71 appearances (all starts).

From the Spurs, sources said Aldridge wanted clarity on the X’s and O’s of how he would work together on the floor with Tim Duncan next season. The news was reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo!

This is the score in free agency the Spurs have dreamed of since their elimination from this past spring’s playoffs at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Leonard, Aldridge and Duncan will be a tough challenge for any team.

That said, it still another chance for the Lakers to make their pitch to Aldridge to join the team this offseason on a max contract of four-years, $80 million.