The Spurs are in position to take a crown away from Oklahoma City, and this one has nothing to do with the scoreboard. After knocking off the Thunder in a seven-game Western Conference Finals last May, San Antonio now has a shot to pass them as the NBA’s top defensive team next season.
That’s no small claim when you’re talking about Oklahoma City. The Thunder have owned that end of the floor for two straight seasons, becoming the only team in the 2020s to finish first in defensive rating. Their rugged, physical style carried them to a pair of Western Conference Finals trips and a championship in 2025.
But San Antonio has the pieces to make this a real race.
The Spurs’ edge starts on the perimeter, where they can throw wave after wave of resistance at opposing guards and wings. Stephon Castle sits at the center of it all, and he should be pushing hard for his first All-Defensive Team nod next season. He’s already shown he can handle the league’s toughest assignments, slowing down SGA, Luka Doncic, and Cade Cunningham in head-to-head matchups.
Devin Vassell gave San Antonio another high-level option last season, and his playoff work helped establish him as one of the NBA’s best 3&D wings. The upside doesn’t stop there, either. Carter Bryant and Dylan Harper both flashed some promise on that side of the floor during their rookie seasons, and the Spurs are counting on those kinds of steps forward.
Then there’s Victor Wembanyama, who changes the entire math. He already gives San Antonio elite rim protection, and after some trouble in the NBA Finals, he should be better equipped to chase quicker players beyond the arc while still anchoring everything else behind him.
Put it together and the Spurs have a defense built on size, length, and grit. That’s a nasty combination. Add in the experience they should pick up in the 2026 NBA Playoffs, and San Antonio figures to be sharper and more polished when it matters.
Oklahoma City, meanwhile, has a real hole to fill after losing Lu Dort. The Thunder won’t suddenly collapse on defense, but Dort’s absence matters. He was one of their best stoppers, the kind of physical defender who could bother ball-handlers from the jump.
San Antonio didn’t lose that kind of core piece. Instead, the Spurs brought back all of their key defenders and added more help.
Tarris Reed Jr. and Jayden Quaintance arrived through the draft, and if health is on their side, both can help slow teams down. Tobias Harris also joins the mix, and he has long been a steady defender.
So the balance has shifted. The Thunder lost one of their most important defensive pieces, while the Spurs kept theirs and added reinforcements. That could be enough for San Antonio to reclaim the league’s most dominant defense for the first time in a decade.
In Other News...
Julian Champagnie May Be More Important To The Spurs Than Fans Realize
Julian Champagnie spent last season looking like the kind of complementary forward every good roster needs, the sort who doesnt always grab headlines but keeps lineups balanced when hes on the floor. His overall impact showed up in the Spurs on/off numbers, and that kind of quiet value matters on a team still sorting out which role players can reliably fit around its young core. He has already shown he can handle that supporting job effectively, which is part of why he keeps coming up as someone the Spurs may need more than casual observers realize.
The next step is less about flash and more about tightening the edges of his game. Better shooting consistency, more physical play and stronger rebounding would make his minutes even harder to take away, especially with his fit alongside the teams key pieces already pointing in the right direction. If those pieces fall into place, Champagnie could move from useful to indispensable, which is exactly the kind of leap that can quietly reshape a rotation. [Read more 🡒]
Stephon Castle Is Earning Praise For What Could Set Him Apart
Stephon Castles second NBA season gave the Spurs more evidence that his value goes well beyond the box score. He finished the year averaging 16.7 points and 7.4 assists, but the attention around him has increasingly centered on what he can do on the other end, where his defensive versatility has already started to separate him from a lot of young guards.
Castles trainer, Olin Simplis, has been among the loudest voices pointing to that side of his game, praising his ability to handle multiple positions and turn defense into a calling card. It is the kind of trait that can make a player stand out in a league filled with scorers, and it helps explain why some around the Spurs see a different kind of ceiling for Castle even as comparisons to bigger-name wings continue to swirl. [Read more 🡒]
Carter Bryant Has One Big Step Left In Spurs Core Build
Carter Bryants early run with the Spurs has already given the organization something it values deeply: a young wing who can make life hard on opposing scorers. His defensive profile has stood out from the start, giving San Antonio reason to believe it has another long, versatile piece to work with as the roster keeps taking shape around its next core.
The bigger question is how far Bryant can go on the other end. His development as a three-point shooter and a more reliable scorer will go a long way toward determining whether he becomes a useful stopper or a true two-way difference-maker, and for a Spurs team still building toward title-level expectations, that kind of offensive jump could end up being the final piece they are waiting on. [Read more 🡒]