Jordan McLaughlin

Contract Value Index (CVI)

The C+ Contract Value Index on Jordan McLaughlin's deal stems from how production lines up against the cap hit. At $2.3M AAV on a one-year deal, the contract itself is negligible — a true depth-piece salary that reflects his modest role — but the disconnect is real: posting 2.0 PPG, 0.7 RPG, and 0.9 APG across 38 games in the 2025-26 season is replacement-level output that doesn't justify even a modest annual commitment, and the D+ performance grade underscores that on-court reality. For a 7-year veteran at age 30, McLaughlin occupies a familiar niche: the low-usage backup point guard whose value lives in the margins — steadying veteran presence, defensive positioning, locker room credibility — rather than in box-score impact. The media narrative heading into the season was genuinely warm, with beat coverage singling out his professionalism and team re-signing him on a clean slate, but that goodwill has cooled considerably as his production failed to sustain it, and with San Antonio now 62-20 and headed toward the Finals, the margin for fringe contributors who don't produce shrinks fast in playoff basketball. The one-year structure is a built-in escape hatch for the front office, and the CVI grade appropriately reflects a player whose contract is cheap enough to keep but expensive enough to question when the stakes climb — a veteran depth piece banking on reputation rather than performance, and that's a grade C+ proposition in the playoffs.

Performance Analysis