The Spurs’ win total is being treated like a ceiling, and that feels way too cautious after what they just did.
DraftKings has San Antonio at 59.5 wins. FanDuel put the number at 60.5.
ESPN was closer, but still stopped at 62, which is basically leaving the car in cruise control while the rest of the lane keeps moving. After a 62-win season nobody saw coming, the expectation should be that the Spurs are moving forward again - not settling in.
Part of the reason the projection looks off is what happened around them in the West. Oklahoma City lost real rotation depth, with Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe, and Aaron Wiggins all playing important roles last season.
Sam Presti didn’t replace them, instead leaning on bigger contributions from Jared McCain, Ajay Mitchell, and Cason Wallace. Those are useful players, but that still reads like a step back.
Denver made a move that feels more subtraction than addition on defense, swapping a good defending two-way player for DeMar DeRozan. The offense didn’t need help, but the defense is expected to be even worse.
Minnesota also changed its shape, trading some of its size - one of its strengths - for more shooting and ball-handling. And banking on LaMelo Ball to make the leap that turns that group into a contender is asking a lot.
San Antonio, by contrast, added Tobias Harris and brought back its full core. That alone should matter more than it seems to in these forecasts.
The internal improvement case is strong, too. Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper are all still in the middle of their learning curve.
It would be foolish to assume Wembanyama stays flat. The Slash Bros are also entering the kind of seasons where second- and third-year growth often shows up for high-usage young players.
De’Aaron Fox is another name that shouldn’t be brushed aside. He didn’t get a real offseason workout because of his hamstring injury, and he missed much of training camp as well. That matters, and it points toward an even better season from Swipa.
Then there’s the simplest edge of all: continuity. A team that just made an NBA Finals run isn’t spending October trying to remember how to play together. While several rivals are still figuring out new pieces, the Spurs can start with familiarity, skill, and maybe a little anger.
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
The Spurs have gone from a rebuild built around promise to one suddenly rich with options, and CBS Sports recently took notice by placing Victor Wembanyama alongside either Stephon Castle or Dylan Harper at the top of the NBAs young-duo conversation. It is the kind of recognition that speaks to how quickly San Antonios foundation has changed, with Wembanyama already establishing himself as the franchise centerpiece and the supporting talent around him looking more and more like it belongs in a serious long-term plan.
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 🡒]