Dewayne Dedmon thrived during his first year with the San Antonio Spurs, and he'll reportedly look to parlay a strong campaign into a nice raise. 

According to Shams Charania of The Vertical, Dedmon plans to decline his $3 million player option for the 2017-18 season. 

Dedmon joined the Spurs after he suited up for the Orlando Magic during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, and it wasn't long before head coach Gregg Popovich started to lean on the 27-year-old center to fill a void in the middle. 

Playing a career-high 17.5 minutes per night, Dedmon averaged 5.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 0.8 blocks while shooting 62.2 percent from the field. 

Dedmon was also a major positive for the Spurs on defense. According to NBA.com's lineup data, the Spurs posted a defensive rating of 97.5 with Dedmon on the floor during the regular season. When he sat, that mark ballooned to 102.7. 

"He's always been active, but he's matured more here, picking and choosing what shots to try to block, picking when to choose to roll to the basket, go for lobs," Spurs guard Danny Green said, per the San Antonio Express-News' Tom Orsborn.

"He's gotten an opportunity to show what he is capable of doing and he's taking full advantage of it."

Now an impending unrestricted free agent, Dedmon will be able to sell himself to teams as a legitimate rotational piece who can play upward of 20 minutes a night thanks to his pick-and-roll and shot-blocking savvy. 

And with the salary cap slated to soar north of $100 million, there should be plenty of teams able to shell out for a rapidly improving big man with Dedmon's skill set.