The Spurs’ first win of the season did not come with a feel-good glow in the locker room.
After San Antonio beat a shorthanded Mavericks team in Dallas on Saturday, head coach Mitch Johnson was more interested in the details that went wrong than the result itself. The Spurs dug into a hole early, giving up 31 points in the first quarter for the third straight game. They also surrendered 46 points in the paint in the first half, which set a new franchise record for the Mavericks.
The game stayed tight through three quarters, but San Antonio finally created some separation with a 30-17 final frame. Even then, the mood afterward was flat. “ If you were in (the locker room), you would have thought we lost the game,” guard De’Aaron Fox said.
Johnson didn’t hide his frustration with the team’s uneven start to 2026/27, which has left the Spurs at 1-2.
“ Our floor right now is way too low,” he said.
Victor Wembanyama struck a similar note. The star center said he never expected the Spurs to open the year at the same level they showed in the playoffs, but he also didn’t think they’d come out this sluggish.
“ I wouldn’t call it starting over,” Wembanyama said. “ But I wouldn’t call it starting where we left off either. It’s in between.
“ It’s normal that we’re not as good as we were during the playoffs. It’s not normal that we’re as bad as we’ve been so far.”
Devin Vassell echoed that sense of urgency after Monday’s practice, saying the Spurs need to “become the hunters again.” He also pointed to the danger of leaning too hard on what happened last season.
“ I think we’re a little bit drunk off the success of last year and we have a lot of room to grow,” Vassell said. “ So trying to just put that (last season) behind us …because we’re a new team. This is a new season… “
One of the bright spots in the win was rookie big man Tarris Reed Jr., who didn’t expect to see fourth-quarter minutes after going uncalled through three periods. When he did get in, he changed the game quickly. In the first three minutes of the final frame, the Spurs pushed their lead from three to 12, and Reed was in the middle of it with three rebounds, including two on the offensive glass, plus a dive after a loose ball.
Johnson said that energy mattered.
“ I kept seeing the whole bench stand up (watching Reed), the guys on the court getting fired up,” Johnson said. “ Tarris wasn’t out there shooting step-back, between his legs 3s. He was just out there playing his ass off.”
There was also a small update on Tobias Harris, who is dealing with a left calf strain. Johnson didn’t give a firm timetable before Saturday’s game, but he suggested the veteran forward may be back sooner rather than later.
“ He’s progressing on the court and it’s going well,” Johnson said. “ We’re excited to have him back very soon.”
In Other News...
Spurs Suddenly Have A Real Chance To Upgrade Around Wembanyama
With injuries to Anthony Edwards and Jalen Williams changing the early-season landscape, the Spurs suddenly have a reason to think more aggressively about the kind of help they can add around Victor Wembanyama. San Antonio has already spent the early part of this build trying to surround its young centerpiece with better defense and more shooting, and two potential trade paths now sit in that lane: PJ Washington from Dallas or Royce ONeale from Charlotte.
Both ideas make sense on paper for a team trying to sharpen the fit around Wembanyama, but they would require the right timing, the right availability and the right approvals to move from speculation to reality. The Spurs are still very much in evaluation mode, yet situations like this can change quickly when a front office sees a chance to improve the roster without waiting for the bigger summer market. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Created Another Wild Spurs Moment In A Win Over Sacramento
Victor Wembanyama keeps finding ways to turn ordinary NBA moments into something only the Spurs could produce. In a win over Sacramento, play stopped when a ball wound up stuck on top of the backboard, and the 7-foot-4 rookie stepped in to help a referee retrieve it by using a stick to dislodge it. It was the kind of scene that says as much about Wembanyamas ridiculous reach as it does about how much attention every Spurs game now seems to command.
The basketball part mattered, too, and San Antonio backed up the quirky moment with a victory over the Kings. Afterward, Wembanyama pointed to the teams progress, a theme the Spurs have leaned into as they try to turn highlight-reel oddities into something more meaningful. For a young roster still learning how to win, even the strange interruptions can feel like part of the growing process. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs First-Round Pick Could Fix A Defensive Problem They Still Cant Solve
The Spurs used the 20th overall pick on Jayden Quaintance with an eye toward the kind of defensive versatility this roster still needs, but the rookies path to the court has been slowed from the start. Quaintance has been rehabbing a right knee injury since July, leaving San Antonio without a clear answer on when it might finally get a look at the player it drafted for that specific purpose.
For now, there is no confirmed return date, and the uncertainty is not just about the knee. Quaintance has had limited recent playing time, so even if the Spurs do get him back this season, the bigger question may be how quickly he can adjust to the NBA level. San Antonio has not ruled out a return this season, though the timeline could stretch as far as January 2027. [Read more 🡒]