LaMarcus Aldridge agrees to contract with Spurs

Be afraid NBA. Be very afraid.

The San Antonio Spurs just got a whole lot better. And they were title contenders to begin with.

Free agent forward LaMarcus Aldridge decided to sign with the Spurs on Saturday morning, when he shared his intentions with the basketball world via Twitter and likely drew groans of concern from rival players, coaches and executives.

"I'm happy to say I'm going home to Texas and will be a Spur!!" he wrote. "I'm excited to join the team and be close to my family and friends."

According to a person with knowledge of the situation, he'll sign a four-year, $80 million deal when the free agency moratorium lifts on July 9. The deal will include a player option after the third season. The person requested anonymity because contracts can't be signed until July 9.

Aldridge, from Dallas, was known to be leaning toward the Spurs and the Phoenix Suns down the stretch of his decision making process.

But the Spurs, who already had agreements in place to bring back Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, were clearly the best choice if his top priority was winning an NBA championship.

It was just nine weeks ago that the then-defending champion Spurs were still looking like their title-contending themselves. But despite a 3-2 series lead in the first round against the Los Angeles Clippers, they dropped the final two games and went into an offseason that everyone knew would be one of the most intriguing in their history.

In landing the 29-year-old Aldridge, they get a four-time All-Star who thought long and hard about whether he wanted to leave the only NBA team he'd ever known.

Aldridge, who averaged 23.4 points and 10.2 rebounds last season, considered a return to the Blazers and met with the Spurs, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers (twice), Houston Rockets, Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks.