De’Aaron Fox is making one thing clear this summer: the Spurs can’t afford to treat training camp like a first meeting.
San Antonio is coming off a run to the 2026 NBA Finals, and the finish exposed exactly what people had warned about all along - their lack of experience. The Spurs handled the first three rounds of the playoffs, but against the New York Knicks, the mental edge belonged to New York. Now San Antonio is back in the lab, trying to turn that painful lesson into something useful for the 2026-27 season.
Fox, one of the leaders in the locker room, is right in the middle of that work. Even after a playoff stretch that left some people frustrated with his performance, he remains a respected voice for the Spurs, especially because he helped push them to their first NBA Finals as a group.
With more than a month still to go before the season opens, the Spurs are already getting together to build chemistry before camp begins. Fox said he even opened his Houston home to teammates so they could keep working.
"We're at my house in Houston. I had Tobias, Vic, and HB here. We all worked out individually towards the beginning of the day, and we came together in the evening and were able to get some work in," Fox said about his workouts with his Spurs teammates.
Fox also laid out why those summer sessions matter so much.
"Training camp can't be the first time getting together as a team. You're going to be behind, and you're trying to play catch-up throughout the season. Even if you just get, you know, three or four, maybe five guys together throughout the course of the summer, it allows you to just get ahead a little bit."
That approach fits where the Spurs are right now. They’ve already shown they can make a surprise run, but that also means the expectations are different now. San Antonio has a target on its back, and the group is already spending summer time together trying to make sure it’s better prepared for the next challenge.
In Other News...
Dylan Harper Just Shifted The Spurs Debate Around Mitch Johnson
Dylan Harper has already found himself pulled into one of the Spurs biggest talking points, and it says something about the moment in San Antonio that a young player is being asked to weigh in on the coach. In an interview with Brandon Robinson, Harper backed Mitch Johnson and pushed back against the criticism that has followed the teams NBA Finals loss, offering a view from inside the locker room that sounded less like hot-take theater and more like a player watching the process up close.
Harper did not pretend the Finals were handled perfectly, but he put Johnsons missteps in the context of a first-year head coach learning on the fly. The bigger message was his belief in the direction of the program and the way Johnson has handled development, which makes the whole conversation feel bigger than one postseason. For the Spurs, the interesting part may be how closely Harpers own early-career path mirrors Johnsons, with both trying to grow through the pressure rather than be defined by it. [Read more 🡒]
Tobias Harris Could Fix A Spurs Problem That Ruined Big Moments
Tobias Harris arrives in San Antonio with a skill set the Spurs have been missing at times, especially in the half court. He does not need the ball in his hands to matter, and his blend of steady scoring and careful decision-making gives the roster another reliable option when possessions start to get tight. For a team that has long valued efficient offense and smart play, that matters as much as any splashy addition.
The appeal is not just what Harris can score, but how he does it. His low turnover rate gives the Spurs a cleaner path to maintaining possession, and that kind of stability has been a recurring issue in the biggest moments. If his style meshes the way the front office hopes, he could become one of those understated pieces who helps prevent the kind of late-game breakdowns that have haunted San Antonio before. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Rookies Already Bring One Big Hope And One Real Concern
The Spurs came out of the 2026 NBA Draft with four new names to sort through, and there is already a clear early read on the group. Jayden Quaintance, Tarris Reed Jr., Ja'Kobi Gillespie and Maliq Brown each bring a different skill set, which is part of the appeal for a team still shaping its next layer of depth around Victor Wembanyama. Defense, shooting and versatility all factor into how quickly any of them can matter, and the debut-year expectations are spread across a range rather than pinned to one outcome.
Quaintance offers the biggest upside, but his path is clouded by health, while Reed has the kind of size that could make him useful in the frontcourt mix if the Spurs need help there. Gillespie and Brown both give San Antonio options in different ways, depending on what the team needs from the back half of the rotation. It is the sort of rookie class that gives the Spurs real hope because of its variety, but it also comes with an obvious reminder that not every piece will be ready on the same timetable. [Read more 🡒]