In the summer of 2005, the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA (who drafted Scola in 2002), attempted to negotiate with Baskonia to buy out his contract. After throwing around numbers as large as US$15 million, Baskonia settled on a number of over $3 million for the buyout of the contract. This made it difficult for Scola to join fellow Argentina national team member Manu Ginóbili in San Antonio, because of the NBA's rule which limits teams to paying no more than $500,000 of a player's buyout. Scola would have been responsible for paying Baskonia the remaining $2.5 million amount of the buyout. When the deal to buy out Scola's contract fell through, the Spurs instead signed an Argentine national team teammate and friend of Scola's, Fabricio Oberto.