The latest NBA power rankings from Bleacher Report still have the San Antonio Spurs sitting above the Minnesota Timberwolves, even after Minnesota made one of the day’s biggest moves by landing Jonathan Kuminga.
Bleacher Report kept San Antonio at No. 2 and placed Minnesota three spots behind it in the update released Aug. 26, the same day Kuminga agreed to a two-year deal with the Timberwolves. Minnesota beat out the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, and Portland Trail Blazers for Kuminga, and the contract includes a player option for 2027-28. The Timberwolves sold him on a starting role next to Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, Jaden McDaniels, and Rudy Gobert.
Kuminga’s path to Minnesota had already been winding. The Atlanta Hawks turned down a $24.3 million team option on him in June, and after a February trade from Golden State, he put up 12.3 points and 5.3 rebounds across 16 games with Atlanta.
Andy Bailey kept Minnesota at fifth in his own rankings and said the Spurs “entered the offseason with few (if any) needs” and could have been in position to contend based only on internal growth. He pointed to Tobias Harris as the key addition around a core of Victor Wembanyama, Dylan Harper, and Stephon Castle, while also raising the possibility that Harper could move into the starting five.
Harris arrived on a two-year, $31 million contract in July. In 63 games last season with the Detroit Pistons, the 34-year-old averaged 13.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 27.7 minutes per game while shooting 46.9% from the field and 36.8% from three.
Wembanyama’s long-term future in San Antonio is already locked in. He signed a five-year rookie-scale maximum extension in July that starts in 2027-28 and is projected at $252 million. The deal includes a fifth-year player option and a 15% trade kicker, and if the Supermax escalators had been triggered, the total could have climbed to about $303 million.
The Spurs also handled another contract decision before free agency opened. They declined Julian Champagnie’s $3 million team option and then signed him to a fully guaranteed three-year, $45 million extension that begins this season.
On the court, San Antonio’s 62-20 season ended in the NBA Finals, after the Spurs knocked out the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games in the Western Conference Finals despite trailing 3-2 in the series. New York won the Finals in five games.
Minnesota finished 49-33 and bowed out in the conference semifinals. Over the summer, the Timberwolves also acquired Ball in a trade, sent Julius Randle to Brooklyn, and traded Naz Reid to Charlotte.
Financially, San Antonio is over the $165 million salary cap, but it remains below the $209 million first apron and is hard-capped there. The Spurs still have the $5.1 million bi-annual exception available.
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Bryant did not get many minutes last season, so any real bump in responsibility would have to come from a very specific role rather than a broad rotation leap. For a team trying to balance development with immediate ambition, that makes this an interesting test case: if Bryant can handle those backup center lineups, the Spurs may have found a useful piece in an unexpected spot. [Read more 🡒]
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What makes the schedule especially interesting is the way it could help San Antonio stack wins before the seasons toughest stretches arrive. There is already plenty of optimism around what the Spurs can be, and the broader read on this schedule is that it offers room for another jump if the team handles business early and avoids losing ground in the middle months. The numbers may ultimately tell a bigger story once the season unfolds, but for now the setup alone is enough to keep the Spurs on the radar as a team with real room to climb. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Just Got Pulled Into A Stephen Curry Debate Fans Will Feel
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The salary side of the conversation makes the speculation even more interesting, because Curry could be in a position to become a free agent next summer and is eligible for a two-year, $136.7 million extension. Nothing about the idea is concrete, of course, but it does put a familiar Spurs question back in the foreground: how aggressive should they be if a star of that caliber ever becomes remotely available? [Read more 🡒]