The Spurs' next evolution

Does falling short in the NBA Finals mean this iteration of the Spurs has fallen short at all?

Good morning. The season is still over. What the hell? Let's basketball.

The San Antonio Spurs went further than anyone imagined before the 2025-26 season. So the question you have to ask before assessing what they should do next to get over the hump and win a championship is what you would have thought had they had a more expected season, such as win 50 games instead of 60, or lose in the second round or Western Conference Finals instead of in crushing fashion in the NBA Finals. That's not the only question, but it is an important one. And the answer to that question is pretty straightforward: depending on how they lost to the Wolves (or the Nuggets had Denver beaten Minnesota) or the Thunder, you'd like call the season a success and tweak around the edges at most.

That the Spurs went further than expected, though, doesn't mean that you ignored what happened later. That's all good information to feed into the record: we saw how yet another top team would defend Victor Wembanyama (with physicality, trying to push him away from the rim with decent success), we saw how the young guards would react to an even higher pressure situation against an less familiar foe, we saw how certain role players would fit when their minutes shrunk.

The Spurs are clearly a legitimate championship contender until further notice. They could run this team back, get no additional injury luck and no internal development and quite possibly be back in the Finals next year. That's totally viable. Now what are the odds none of Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper or Carter Bryant, all 22 or younger, improve over the next year? Injuries happen and can't really be predicted. (It should be noted that De'Aaron Fox was clearly hobbled by his unhealed high ankle sprain suffered in the second round.) And veteran players can sometimes lose their way, though Fox, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson and Julian Champagnie are all young veterans.