Amar’e Stoudemire’s Hall of Fame induction has given LaMarcus Aldridge’s case a noticeable lift, and it comes at a time when the whole conversation around what qualifies as a legendary career is getting louder.
That chatter has picked up with the recent retirements of Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook, along with the Hall of Fame inductions of Doc Rivers and Stoudemire. Westbrook and Paul are obvious first-ballot choices.
Rivers, who won a title in 2008 and was one of the league’s best regular-season coaches, also comes with the usual postseason questions. Stoudemire, meanwhile, was unquestionably a strong player - but one of the game’s all-time greats?
That’s where the debate starts.
For Spurs fans, Stoudemire’s enshrinement may not sit especially well, since much of his Hall of Fame case was built on his work with the Phoenix Suns. But his induction still matters for Aldridge, whose own résumé now looks even more favorable by comparison.
Aldridge is most closely tied to the Portland Trail Blazers, yet his years in San Antonio were significant. Three of his seven All-Star selections came with the Spurs, along with two of his five All-NBA honors. His only trip to the Conference Finals also came in a Spurs uniform.
He was never quite viewed as a face-of-the-era superstar, more a standout in the second tier of his generation. But with Stoudemire now in the Hall, Aldridge’s path looks clearer.
“Aldridge's career averages are right there with Stoudemire's numbers, and he maintained them while playing nearly 10,000 more minutes than the former Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks star,” wrote ESPN's Ben Golliver. “While Aldridge never won a ring with the Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs or Brooklyn Nets, he earned seven All-Star nods and racked up 115.6 career win shares -- far more than either Stoudemire or Griffin, who was a 2026 Hall finalist.”
Across 16 NBA seasons, Aldridge put up 19.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, and he kept the midrange game alive deep into the 2010s. In an era ruled by Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki, he fit into that next group alongside Stoudemire, Blake Griffin, Chris Bosh and Kevin Love.
By the standards of baseball or football, a player with Aldridge’s career would likely be remembered with a jersey in the rafters rather than a plaque in the Hall. Basketball plays by different rules, though, and Stoudemire’s induction only strengthens the precedent. For Aldridge, that door is now open.
In Other News...
Spurs Face A Brutal Stretch That Could Reshape Their Rotation
November is about to test the Spurs in a way that goes beyond wins and losses. San Antonio is staring at a stretch of 16 games in 30 days with no two-day breaks, and even if only a handful of those matchups come against top conference opponents, the grind alone figures to push Mitch Johnson into some interesting decisions about how he uses his roster.
For Johnson, the month looks like more than a survival exercise. It should be a chance to mix and match lineups that have barely shared the floor, give young players a longer runway, and keep workload management at the center of the plan as the season wears on. The upside for San Antonio is that a brutal schedule can also become a laboratory, and the next few weeks may tell the staff a lot about which combinations are worth carrying forward. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Could Face A Tough Keldon Johnson Decision Around Wembanyama
The Spurs have already been linked to plenty of roster tinkering around Victor Wembanyama, with DeAaron Fox and Luke Kornet both part of the broader conversation as the front office weighs how to keep sharpening the fit around its young star. In that kind of setup, Keldon Johnson naturally becomes one of the more interesting names to watch because he has been part of the teams core for years and still represents real value in any discussion about reshaping the roster.
What makes Johnson especially tricky is that he sits at the center of a larger balancing act for San Antonio, one that involves present-day usefulness, future upside and the kind of defensive versatility that matters next to Wembanyama. A recent mock proposal imagines the Spurs moving him for a younger wing package, a reminder that the organization may have to decide whether Johnson is better kept as a proven piece or used as the sort of trade chip that can bring back a cleaner long-term fit. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Raised The Bar And Now Expectations Are Getting Real
After a season that showed just how quickly the Spurs can turn promise into wins, the conversation around San Antonio is no longer about patience. The roster is young, the chemistry is real, and there is enough depth on hand to make a jump feel less like a dream and more like the next logical step. Add in a schedule that looks manageable and both ends of the floor carrying room for growth, and it is easy to see why expectations have started to shift.
Victor Wembanyama and the rest of the core have given the organization a foundation that already feels sturdier than outsiders expected, and player development could push it further. Still, the leap from a strong season to elite territory is where the caution comes in, because projection and reality are rarely the same thing. The idea of a 70-win season hangs out there as a bold marker, but for now it remains exactly that, a bold marker, with plenty left to prove before San Antonio gets anywhere close to it. [Read more 🡒]