The Spurs spent the summer making life a lot easier for Victor Wembanyama.
San Antonio already had Luke Kornet in the mix, but the draft added even more size behind its franchise centerpiece. The Spurs selected Jayden Quaintance and Tarris Reed Jr., then grabbed Maliq Brown in the second round, giving the roster a deeper pool of bigs who can handle center minutes if needed. Some of those options could grow into long-term support pieces behind Wembanyama.
That matters because the Spurs need to keep Wembanyama fresh and available if they want to make real noise in the playoffs. Stocking the frontcourt with more depth is a direct way to do that.
Kornet was a strong addition for San Antonio last summer, especially because he allowed the team to survive non-Wembanyama minutes without a major drop-off. He did struggle to keep up in the postseason, though, which leaves room for improvement there. The rookie group could also force its way into that role.
Even so, Kornet remains valuable. He helped the Spurs during the regular season, and his presence gives them a better chance of managing Wembanyama’s workload before the games get bigger.
Quaintance brings a different kind of intrigue. The No. 20 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft has a long injury history, but the upside is obvious.
He barely played this past season, and the year before that he tore his ACL. Still, when he’s healthy and on the floor, he projects as an elite defender who could make San Antonio even tougher on that end.
Reed may be the most immediately useful of the group. He looks like a player who can step into real minutes right away, with the size to battle inside, rebound, and even make a few passes. On nights when Wembanyama sits or Kornet isn’t giving the Spurs what they need, Mitch Johnson should be able to turn to Reed without hesitation.
Brown is the least pure center of the bunch, but he gives San Antonio another solid two-way option. He’s more of a power forward, yet he still fits as another worthwhile flyer.
The bottom line is simple: the Spurs entered the summer with just Kornet behind Wembanyama, and now they have a lot more insurance. For Wemby, that’s a major win.
In Other News...
Mavericks Lock In Undrafted Standout With Intriguing Extension
Naji Marshall is now set to stick with Dallas a little longer after agreeing to a three-year contract extension, a move that gives the Mavericks more clarity with one of their more useful rotation pieces. The structure of the deal is noteworthy, too, with the salary declining from $18.2 million in the 2027/28 season to $16.7 million in 2029/30, a setup that keeps him trade-eligible and gives the team some flexibility down the road.
For a Mavericks team trying to build around dependable, adaptable players, Marshalls appeal is easy to understand. President Masai Ujiri pointed to his competitiveness and versatility as reasons he fits into the franchises future, and that kind of profile tends to matter even more when roster decisions start getting tight. The extension locks in an important piece, but it also leaves open the larger question of how Dallas will continue shaping the rest of its core. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Has Spurs Fans Dreaming Bigger Than Just Stardom
Victor Wembanyama keeps turning the spotlight into something bigger for San Antonio. Fresh off a season that saw him lead the Spurs to the NBA Finals, win Defensive Player of the Year and finish as an MVP finalist, he has now been named the cover athlete for the standard edition of NBA 2K27. Add in CBS Sports placing him No. 2 on its list of the leagues faces, behind only LeBron James, and the message is hard to miss: the Spurs star is no longer just a building block, he is becoming one of the leagues defining names.
For Spurs fans, the appeal goes beyond the accolades and the marketing. Wembanyama already has the rsum of a franchise centerpiece, but the conversation around him is starting to sound like something larger, the kind of status reserved for players who shape the leagues image as much as its standings. San Antonio has spent years waiting for a player who could restore that kind of gravitational pull, and Wembanyamas latest honors only sharpen the question of how far this rise can go. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Face Early Jayden Quaintance Decision That Could Shape His Rookie Year
Jayden Quaintances rookie year has already turned into a roster-management puzzle for the Spurs. The first-round pick is coming off knee surgery, and the expectation is that he will be sidelined for about six months, which puts his availability for next season in serious doubt before it even begins. For a team trying to map out its frontcourt rotation, that creates an early choice about how to handle a young big man whose development may matter just as much as his health.
San Antonio can afford to be patient, especially with other center options in the mix in Tarris Reed Jr. and Luke Kornet. The bigger question is whether the Spurs see more value in keeping Quaintance completely out for the season or finding a way to ease him back once he is cleared so he can get real game reps somewhere in the system. However they answer it, the decision will say a lot about how the Spurs want to balance long-term development against the realities of a season that starts without him. [Read more 🡒]