On Friday night, the Spurs made a shocking announcement when the put out a press release an hour before they played the Bulls stating they were waiving Joshua Primo.
Primo was the 12th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft and the Spurs had picked up his third-year option less than three weeks ago, playing him in the first four games. The news arrived suddenly and without any real indication of what transpired that led to his release. The Spurs official statement said they hoped it would be best for both Primo and the team long-term, and none of the preeminent newsbreakers in the NBA world had any further details to provide in the hours after the release was sent out.
Primo himself released a very vague statement saying he was going to focus on his “mental health treatment” on Friday night, but there still felt like we were missing some key information into why the Spurs would outright waive him. On Saturday evening, that information arrived in the form of a brief report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne, as they reported Primo had allegedly exposed himself to multiple women, leading to the decision by the team to let him go.
The San Antonio Spurs’ release of guard Joshua Primo — the No. 12 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft — stemmed from multiple alleged instances of him exposing himself to women, sources told ESPN.
While we don’t know any details beyond this, it explains why the Spurs would move so quickly and let him go completely, rather than trying to move him in a trade or just have him step away from the team. It also brings into question Primo’s statement, in which he cites previous trauma he endured, and teams and the league will have plenty of questions about what took place before Primo can potentially find himself a new team.