The Spurs have the kind of title odds that make people sit up and take notice, but one recent ranking says San Antonio still doesn’t quite have a starting five that matches the hype.
DraftKings Sportsbook has the Spurs tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder at +270 to win the 2027 NBA Finals. That puts San Antonio in rare air, right alongside the team that won the championship just over a calendar year ago. The Spurs also got back to basketball’s biggest stage for the first time in 12 years earlier this summer, so the optimism around the franchise is easy to understand.
Bleacher Report, though, wasn’t ready to put San Antonio’s first five among the league’s elite. In its ranking, the Spurs came in sixth, behind the Denver Nuggets at No. 5, the Indiana Pacers at No. 4, the New York Knicks at No. 3, the Oklahoma City Thunder at No. 2 and the Philadelphia 76ers at No. 1.
That list is hard to ignore, especially with the Knicks coming off a title, the Thunder reshaping the top of the West and the 76ers now carrying four of the NBA’s 20 best players after adding LeBron James. Still, San Antonio’s placement invites a real debate, especially when the comparison turns to Denver and Indiana.
Bleacher Report’s case for the Spurs centered on the backcourt. Greg Swartz wrote, "Clearly, Dylan Harper and Castle should be starting.
They represent the backcourt of the future in San Antonio and allow the Spurs to reach their massive ceiling alongside Wembanyama. Harper 'voiced displeasure' about his role and playing time last year, according to ESPN's Michael C.
Wright," Greg Swartz wrote.
That leaves the Spurs with a tricky but enviable problem: three guards, one of them coming off his second All-Star appearance, and two more who look like future All-Stars themselves. That kind of logjam can create friction, but it also says plenty about the talent San Antonio is stacking around Victor Wembanyama.
Swartz also pointed to the uncertainty at power forward, where he penciled in Julian Champagnie while noting Tobias Harris could wind up taking the job. Champagnie already has 159 regular-season starts for the Spurs, which makes him the safer bet to open the season in that spot.
Denver’s spot in the ranking is tougher to square. Swartz didn’t project any major changes from last season, yet the Nuggets still landed behind both Oklahoma City and San Antonio in the West pecking order.
Indiana’s case is more straightforward. The Pacers are bringing back Tyrese Haliburton and Ivica Zubac to a group that pushed Oklahoma City to seven games in the 2025 NBA Finals, which gives them a starting five with real punch. Even so, it’s fair to ask whether that group has more going for it than San Antonio’s after another offseason of growth.
For the Spurs, the bigger picture remains the same: Harper and Castle look like future All-Stars, and that kind of leap feels less like a question of if than when. It could happen as soon as next season for both.
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Castle showed real progress last season as both a scorer and a passer, and the next step is proving he can keep building when defenses start crowding him from the jump. The ball-handling has to hold up, the scoring has to translate against pressure, and the early returns should tell the Spurs plenty about his growth. It is the kind of opening stretch that can reveal a lot fast, even if it leaves the bigger question of how far he can climb for later. [Read more 🡒]
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For the Spurs, the assignment is about as direct as it gets: an opening-night meeting with Oklahoma City, the team everyone else is chasing. It is also the kind of game that immediately places Victor Wembanyama in one of the leagues biggest early-season spotlights, with other marquee names such as LeBron James and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander helping define a loaded night around the league. For San Antonio, it is a strong signal that the league expects the conversation to run through them again. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Fans Can Finally Start Planning Around A Big 2026-27 Start
Spurs fans already have the first pieces of the 2026-27 calendar to work with, and that is enough to start sketching out what next fall could look like. The league has released part of San Antonios schedule, including preseason and regular-season dates along with broadcast information, so there is at least some clarity now around when the next chapter begins and how it will be shown.
There is also the added wrinkle of the Emirates NBA Cup 2026, where the Spurs landed in Group C with the Lakers, Trail Blazers, Warriors and Kings. The full Cup schedule is still due Aug. 12, which leaves the complete picture unfinished for now, but it does give San Antonio another early-season marker to watch as the team prepares for a potentially busy start. [Read more 🡒]