Luke Kornet was one of the Spurs’ most important free-agent additions last summer, but San Antonio’s latest moves suggest his hold on the backup-center job may not last much longer.
The Spurs have reshaped their center depth by bringing in Tarris Reed Jr. and Jayden Quaintance, two rookies who both fit into the franchise’s long-term thinking. That shift puts Kornet in a different kind of spot than the one he occupied a year ago, when he helped stabilize the position behind Victor Wembanyama.
His playoff run showed both sides of that equation. When Wembanyama was off the floor, Kornet was targeted over and over again.
With few other answers available, San Antonio leaned heavily on Wembanyama’s minutes. Mitch Johnson might have even kept Wembanyama on the floor for the entire second half of Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder if foul trouble had not intervened.
Still, Kornet had one huge moment in that game. His block in the middle of the fourth quarter gave Wembanyama a brief breather and kept OKC from cutting the gap to within four points of tying the Spurs.
Outside of that, though, Kornet’s postseason impact was limited. That was not exactly a surprise. He was brought in to handle regular-season work and help the Spurs survive non-Wembanyama minutes at center, not to carry a heavy playoff load.
In the postseason, Wembanyama played big minutes and San Antonio never really used French Vanilla lineups, leaving Kornet with only about 12 minutes per game. In those shorter bursts, he seemed to struggle more, and the Spurs were often outscored when Wembanyama sat.
That is where Reed Jr. and Quaintance come in. Reed Jr. looks ready to help right away, while Quaintance is more of a longer-range investment. Even so, both rookies could eventually squeeze Kornet’s role.
San Antonio may already be planning for that reality. Kornet could have only another season or two with the Spurs before they need to move on from him to duck the second apron. Adding two young centers now gives the team a chance to prepare for that transition before it becomes urgent.
For now, the best-case scenario is straightforward: Kornet stays important next season, Reed Jr. chips in as a small but meaningful third center, and Quaintance gets healthy and maybe even sees the floor. But the direction is clear. The Spurs brought in both rookies with an eye toward eventually replacing Kornet, and his workload could shrink as soon as next season.
In Other News...
Spurs Already Learned The Finals Lesson The Knicks Should Fear
The NBA's long view is already taking shape, and ESPN's Summer Forecast panel has gone out on a limb with its June 2027 Finals pick. The projection has the Oklahoma City Thunder meeting the New York Knicks, a pairing that would bring plenty of baggage for New York given its recent history against Oklahoma City and the lingering memory of how the Spurs handled the Knicks on the league's biggest stage.
San Antonio's own lesson from the 2026 Finals is the part that still hangs in the air. The Spurs were in position to close out the title, only to let the chance slip away, and that kind of experience tends to travel with a team. If these two franchises cross paths again, the Spurs would have the benefit of having lived through the mistake once already, while the Knicks would be left wondering whether the same pressure points are waiting for them again. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Suddenly Have A Young Core Debate Few Teams Can Match
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What makes the debate so compelling is that the Spurs may not be limited to a simple two-man discussion for long. Castle and Harper both bring the kind of upside that gives San Antonio enviable flexibility, and DeAaron Fox only adds another layer to a core that can be argued with the leagues best groups on paper. For a team that has spent years chasing the next wave, the bigger question now is not whether the talent is real, but how far this cluster of high-end pieces can push the organization once it fully settles in. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Garnett Nostalgia Is Creating A New Timberwolves Debate
The basketball card market keeps finding new ways to reward collectors chasing the stars of the 1990s, and San Antonios place in that conversation is no small one. Alongside names like Allen Iverson and Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan has been part of a broader surge that has pushed values higher across the hobby, with cards tied to that era drawing fresh attention from buyers who once might have focused mostly on the biggest marquee names from Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O'Neal.
For Spurs fans, the intrigue is less about nostalgia than about what it says regarding Duncans standing in the games collecting economy. Recent auction results and sharp price increases have shown that there is real demand building around his cards, but the market is still sorting out just how high that ceiling can go as the hobby reassesses players whose prime came before todays boom in card speculation. [Read more 🡒]