Tiago Splitter braced himself for the possibility of being traded by the San Antonio Spurs this past offseason.

With the Spurs pursuing major free agents, Splitter was an obvious candidate to be dealt to open up cap space.

“I don’t say I love it, but I expected it," said Splitter.

“I knew the changes they wanted to do with this franchise,” he said. “I knew they wanted to bring a new superstar to the team. The way they could do that was to trade somebody.”

Gregg Popovich called Splitter to inform him he had been traded to the Atlanta Hawks.

“Once I accepted it, Atlanta was the best option,” Splitter said. “I really like the team I’m with now.”