The San Antonio Spurs have spent the opening stretch of the season living out of a suitcase, and the schedule has already thrown plenty at them. Three back-to-backs in their first 10 games, each one tied to travel, would be enough to wear on any team. Mitch Johnson knows that, even if he isn’t interested in making a fuss about it.
“You always want what you don’t have in that moment,” the coach said before the Spurs faced the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City, their fourth different location in the first five games.
That stop in Salt Lake City came after San Antonio had already handled a back-to-back in Austin and Dallas about 96 hours earlier. The Spurs then returned home for three games before heading back out for a four-game road trip. Last Friday and Saturday, the grind picked up again with games against the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers.
San Antonio answered with two of its sharpest road performances of the young season, beating Sacramento 124-109 in NBA Cup Group Play and following that with a 125-103 win over Portland. Those results did more than pad the record. They showed a team starting to click.
“We’ve got a lot of momentum,” Stephon Castle said at shootaround in Phoenix.
The numbers backed him up. Across those two road wins, the Spurs averaged 124.5 points and won by a combined 37, with their depth showing up all over the floor. They piled up 28 assists against Sacramento and 29 more against Portland, moving the ball with purpose and getting production from across the rotation.
“The way that we like to play off each other,” Castle began, “we know how hard we are to guard, especially when ... the ball’s popping with how much talent we have on the court.”
Victor Wembanyama was at the center of it, as usual. He totaled 59 points and 21 rebounds over the two victories while shooting 61.3 percent from the field. But the Spurs haven’t been leaning on him alone, and that’s been part of the early-season story.
Devin Vassell averaged 17 points in the two games. Castle added 16.5 points and six assists per contest. Dylan Harper chipped in 16 points per game as San Antonio kept finding answers beyond its top option.
Johnson said some of the lineup combinations still need time to develop the kind of chemistry that makes them work at full speed. Rather than force those groups into situations they aren’t ready for, he has taken a more measured route.
“The depth is our strength,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of really good players and ... groups and combinations that can play together. It will be a strength for us throughout the season.”
The early schedule has made that balancing act even trickier. San Antonio entered the season with a shorter offseason than most after reaching the NBA Finals in June, and that has brought its own set of challenges. Wembanyama believes the team is settling in.
“We’re in a great spot, 10 games in,” Wembanyama said after the Spurs’ NBA-best eighth straight win in Portland. “The season goes by quick.
We’re building. We’re trending upwards.
Everybody’s figuring out their roles ... getting in shape, getting into the rhythm of the season.”
Johnson sees the same thing, even with more road games still ahead. The Spurs have shown enough early to suggest they’re moving in the right direction, though the real test of how far this can go is still coming.
Wembanyama isn’t rushing past that reality.
“We’ve only been tested a few ways,” Wembanyama said. “We’ve played the same opponents a couple of times.
The season is long. There’s going to be difficulties that we can’t anticipate.”
For now, the Spurs can point to a road stretch that looks a lot more like progress than survival.
In Other News...
Spurs Suddenly Have A Devin Vassell Decision That Could Shift Everything
Devin Vassells status has become one of the more important pregame storylines for the Spurs as they get ready to face the Suns. He is listed as questionable with left adductor tightness, and that matters because San Antonio has already been leaning on his scoring and spacing while trying to settle into a rhythm. Vassells recent shooting has also been part of the conversation, making his availability more than just a routine injury note.
If he cannot go, Julian Champagnie is expected to slide into the starting lineup, which would give the Spurs a different look on the wing. That kind of adjustment can ripple through the rotation quickly, especially against a Suns team that will punish any offensive timing issues. For San Antonio, the question is not only whether Vassell can suit up, but how much the lineup changes if he cannot. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Gets A Chance To Silence One Spurs Rivals Confidence
Dillon Brooks has been willing to talk like he has Victor Wembanyama figured out, leaning on the early matchups between the two to make his case. Most of those meetings came when Wembanyama was still in his rookie year or just into his second season, which matters now because the Spurs center is not the same player he was then. He has added strength, sharpened his decisions and put together a strong season that looks a lot more like the version San Antonio expected when it drafted him.
That is what makes the next meeting so interesting from the Spurs side. Brooks may be carrying confidence from what happened before, but those results do not automatically travel with him when Wembanyama is playing with more physicality and a clearer sense of how to control a game. For San Antonio, it is a chance to see whether one of the leagues most outspoken defenders can still bother a player who has already shown he can keep evolving past old scouting reports. [Read more 🡒]
Austin Spurs Showed One Unbeaten Trait Fans Should Notice
The Austin Spurs opened their home slate at H-E-B Center with a 115-103 win over the Laketown Squadron, and the early signs of cohesion were hard to miss. JaKobi Gillespie set the tone with 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while Terry Taylor supplied a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds as Austin kept its unbeaten start rolling.
For a team still settling into the season, the bigger takeaway may be how comfortably the Spurs are sharing the load and dictating the pace in the first week. At 2-0, they head into their Tip-Off Tournament matchup with the Memphis Hustle carrying momentum, and a chance to show whether this balanced start is a real early-season trait or just a strong opening stretch. [Read more 🡒]