Manu Ginobili plans to play for the Argentine national team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio at the age of 38, according to an announcement from the Argentina Basketball Federation.

Ginobili made the decision just before San Antonio's 112-88 win Wednesday night over the Miami Heat and called Argentine coach Sergio Hernandez to inform him he'd be available for the Olympic Games.

"To say that Manu's availability makes me happy personally is to put it mildly," Hernandez said. "That is not significant. His was a very brave decision and at the same time very correct, from my point of view. He will be able to end his career with the national team at an Olympic Games. This is the most important news for Argentine sport at this moment. Ginobili is a symbol. Welcome Manu. And now we shall enjoy this."

When the San Antonio Spurs reach 62 wins, Tim Duncan will receive a bonus of $750,000.

The bonus will be added to his current salary of $5.25 million for a cap hit of $6 million this season.

The Spurs will receive a tax bill increase from $3.8 million to $4.9 million.

For next season, Duncan’s salary will increase from $5.64 million to $6.4 million. The Spurs will lose an extra $750,000 in cap space next summer once the bonus is achieved.

The San Antonio Spurs have assigned Boban Marjanovic and Jonathon Simmons to the Austin Spurs of the NBA Development League.

Marjanovic will make his second appearance with Austin, where he is averaging 25.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 blocks in 26.5 minutes while shooting .793 from the floor in two games.

Simmons will see his third stint in Austin and is averaging 17.3 points, 4.0 assists and 3.3 rebounds in 35.4 minutes in three total games this season.

Both in their first seasons with San Antonio, Marjanovic is averaging 4.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 14.0 minutes over 45 games, while Simmons is averaging 5.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 14.0 minutes over 48 appearances with the Spurs.

The Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs meet again on Saturday with the highest combined winning percentage of any meeting at least 65 games into the season.

The Warriors and Spurs have a combined winning percentage of .882 with their records of 62-6 and 58-10 respectively.

Both the Warriors and Spurs are also undefeated at home.

LaMarcus Aldridge became a more aggressive and efficient scorer for the San Antonio Spurs after Tim Duncan missed a stretch of time beginning in January. Since Duncan has returned, Aldridge has continued his high level of production.

From the start of the season until January 22nd, Aldridge averaged 15.9 points per game on 48.7 percent shooting and 13.6 field goal attempts. Between January 23rd and February 18th, Aldridge averaged 20.8 points on 54.7 percent shooting and 13.9 field goal attempts. From February 18th until March 17th, Aldridge has averaged 20.2 points on 52.6 percent shooting and 15.2 field goal attempts.

“It’s a subjective thing, but I think it’s logical to think that that may have been a little bit of a catalyst,” said Gregg Popovich. “He realized he had to do some things and there wasn’t anybody else to defer to, as far as bigs are concerned. That probably had a little bit to do with it. It’s also been a process where he’s become more comfortable in the offense, catching it in different places than he was used to, and it was a process for me too to give him the ball more in places that he was used to. So a little bit of both and then as time went on his confidence level went up when he would miss shots, and he realized we don’t care.”

“We care if you don’t shoot them if you’re open,” continued Popovich. “If you miss them, we don’t care, you can’t control that.”

The San Antonio Spurs have re-assigned Jonathon Simmons to the Austin Spurs, the team's NBA D-League affiliate.

Simmons posted 17 points (6-9 FG, 5-5 FT), 4 rebounds and 4 assists vs. Grand Rapids on Nov. 17 in his only appearance with Austin this year. 

The rookie forward is averaging 5.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 14.0 minutes in 48 appearances this year with San Antonio.

The Spurs play the Warriors on Saturday and Simmons will miss their game against the Blazers.

Rival executives believe the San Antonio Spurs will explore ways in which they can sign Kevin Durant in free agency.

The Spurs signed LaMarcus Aldridge to a max contract in free agency last offseason with their cap gymnastics such as trading away Tiago Splitter and then signing Danny Green, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili to under fair market value contracts.

San Antonio would have to figure out how to play Durant with Kawhi Leonard despite the fact they play the same position. The Spurs could play big with Durant and Leonard as the two wings, or play small with those two players as the forwards to move Aldridge to center.

Trading away Green could be necessary to create enough cap space for Durant.

The San Antonio Spurs are unlikely to catch the Golden State Warriors in terms of regular season record, while the Warriors are unlikely to catch the Spurs on efficiency differential.

These are the two metrics we most frequently use to judge teams on their regular season play and a split of the two categories is not particularly uncommon as evidenced by the splits listed below in bold.

When a team leads the NBA in both categories since the 80-81 season, they have won The Finals in 12 out of 20 seasons (60 percent). 

* Signifies team that led the NBA in both categories and also won the NBA Finals.

Efficiency Differential/Win-Loss

15-16: Spurs/Warriors ?

14-15: Warriors/Warriors *

13-14: Spurs/Spurs *

12-13: Thunder/Heat

11-12: Bulls/Bulls

10-11: Heat/Bulls

09-10: Magic/Cavaliers

08-09: Cavaliers/Cavaliers

07-08: Celtics/Celtics *

06-07: Spurs/Mavericks

05-06: Spurs/Pistons

04-05: Spurs/Suns

03-04: Spurs/Pacers

02-03: Mavericks/Mavericks

01-02: Kings/Kings

00-01: Spurs/Spurs

99-00: Lakers/Lakers *

98-99: Spurs/Spurs *

97-98: Lakers/Jazz

96-97: Bulls/Bulls *

95-96: Bulls/Bulls *

94-95: Jazz/Spurs

93-94: Sonics/Sonics

92-93: Sonics/Suns

91-92: Bulls/Bulls *

90-91: Bulls/Blazers

89-90: Lakers/Lakers

88-89: Cavaliers/Pistons

87-88: Celtics/Lakers

86-87: Lakers/Lakers *

85-86: Celtics/Celtics *

84-85: Lakers/Celtics

83-84: Celtics/Celtics *

82-83: 76ers/76ers *

81-82: Celtics/Celtics

80-81: 76ers/Celtics

Spurs Sports & Entertainment announced that Peter M. Holt has retired as the organization’s Chairman and CEO and that Julianna Hawn Holt will assume both roles. Holt has held the position since 1996 when the Holts became the largest shareholder in San Antonio Spurs, LLC. Holt will remain on the organization’s board of managers and continue as part of the ownership group while Julianna will become the team’s Governor on the NBA’s Board of Governors.

“I’m proud of what we’ve achieved over the last two decades,” said Peter Holt. “The championships are wonderful, bringing new sports franchises to San Antonio is important but the biggest accomplishment for me will always be the impact we’ve had in our community. The pride, support and love that our city has for the Spurs is truly amazing.”

Under the Holts’ leadership, the team has become one of the premier franchises in North American sports. The Spurs have captured five NBA titles (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014) while qualifying for the playoffs 19 straight seasons. The 2015-16 Spurs have a 54-10 record, the best mark to start a season in franchise history, and are a perfect 30-0 at home, which is the third best home record to start a season in NBA history.

“Our ownership in the Spurs has always been a family affair,” said Julianna Hawn Holt. “For many years I’ve had the desire to take a more active role with Spurs Sports & Entertainment. We felt this was the right time to make this transition. We are very excited about the current Spurs season and the future of the organization.”

The San Antonio Spurs have waived Rasual Butler to create a roster spot for Kevin Martin.

Martin agreed to sign with the Spurs shortly after he was waived by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Butler was averaging 2.7 points and 1.22 rebounds in 9.4 minutes over 46 games for the Spurs this season.

Butler turns 37 in May and has been in the NBA since 2002.