The Lakers are handing the Spurs a gift, and they may not even realize it.
Los Angeles has Luka Doncic, a franchise player in his prime, and still looks like a team that can’t get out of its own way. That matters in San Antonio, where every wasted season from the Lakers is one fewer obstacle between the Spurs and another run at a title.
The latest sign of trouble came with Rui Hachimura leaving for the Clippers. Doncic reportedly wanted him back, but that’s only one piece of a bigger mess.
Rob Pelinka’s job is simple: build a roster that keeps his star happy. Instead, the Lakers are drifting through another offseason with more questions than answers.
That should sound familiar to anyone in San Antonio who remembers the rivalry from the 2000s. The Spurs built around a transcendent star and reached the NBA Finals in three years. The Lakers, meanwhile, were given a generational talent in his prime with LeBron James already on the roster and still seem unsure of their direction.
The roster around Doncic doesn’t inspire much confidence, especially on the defensive end. He has spent eight NBA seasons as a middling to poor defender, and while he can be serviceable when locked in, he needs real help behind him. Pelinka hasn’t exactly found the right pieces to make that formula work.
The Lakers have brought in Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Kessler. According to Dan Woike, Grimes is expected to be their primary defender. He’s a solid team defender, but that’s a tough ask against players like Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper, and the league’s top playmakers.
The same concern applies to Jake LaRavia and Collin Sexton. LaRavia lacks the lateral quickness, and Sexton is undersized.
Most of the group simply doesn’t have the footspeed to hold up. Against lesser teams, the Lakers’ offense may cover for some of that.
Against contenders like San Antonio, it’s a different story.
And that’s where the problem starts for Luka.
Great players want to chase championships, and Doncic is no exception. If the Lakers keep putting flawed rosters around him, patience won’t last forever. A trade request wouldn’t be hard to imagine.
Honestly, it was easy to see this coming. I wasn’t even sure the Slovenian star would sign an extension with them in the first place.
LeBron James rescued the franchise from obscurity when he arrived, and the Luka trade added a little more shine to a team that still feels like it’s operating on borrowed time. Pelinka didn’t engineer those breaks.
They landed in his lap.
For the Spurs, that’s the best part.
San Antonio has faced the Lakers seven times in the postseason since 1999, tied with Phoenix for the most in that span. Watching a longtime rival stumble is its own kind of reward.
A traditional power is moving out of the way, and the Spurs get to watch it happen. That’s a pretty good deal.
In Other News...
Spurs Missed On A Dream Target For One Frustrating Reason
The Spurs spent part of the offseason chasing a forward they believed could have fit neatly into their frontcourt plans, with Rui Hachimura drawing interest from San Antonio and several other teams before the market settled. Golden State, Minnesota and Brooklyn were also in the mix, a reminder that Hachimura had plenty of options as he weighed his next move.
San Antonio ultimately had to pivot after missing out, and the answer came in the form of veteran forward Tobias Harris, a steadier addition who helps address the same area of need. The Spurs would have liked to land Hachimura and keep building around a younger, more versatile look, but the search for frontcourt help did not end with one swing. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Send Tarris Reed Jr. A Tough Message Right Away
Tarris Reed Jr. already has a clear early-career assignment in San Antonio, and it has little to do with putting up points. The Spurs took Reed alongside Jayden Quaintance in the 2026 NBA Draft, bringing in the former UConn and Michigan big man with the expectation that his value will come from defense, rebounding and a physical presence around the basket.
In Summer League, coach Corliss Williamson made the message plain: Reeds lane is the gritty stuff, not a featured offensive role. For a Spurs roster that already has plenty of scoring to go around, the rookie will need to earn his way by doing the dirty work and showing he can hold up in the details, with a chance to push into the regular rotation if those traits translate once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Suddenly Face A Lineup Decision That Could Disrupt Their Chemistry
The Spurs are staring at one of those early offseason choices that can quietly shape everything else, and it centers on the starting power forward spot. Tobias Harris brings the kind of veteran rsum that usually makes a coach think twice, while Julian Champagnie has already shown he can fit cleanly alongside the rest of San Antonios core.
Champagnies case is rooted in how well the Spurs looked with him in the first unit, where the group around De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama clicked at a high level. Harris still has value, especially as a scorer who could change the tone of a second unit, but the bigger question for San Antonio is whether it keeps the chemistry it found or makes room for experience at the expense of continuity. [Read more 🡒]