The Spurs are rolling into Portland with seven straight wins, and they’ll try to make it eight tonight at the Moda Center against a Trail Blazers team that’s off to a 6-2 start. Tip is set for 9:00 p.m.
CT, and both clubs are on the second night of a back-to-back. San Antonio handled Sacramento 124-109 on Friday, while Portland fell 124-118 to Luka Doncic’s Lakers.
It’s also a familiar matchup. These teams met in the first round of the playoffs nearly seven months ago, when the Silver and Black took the series 4-1 in April.
That was the franchise’s first postseason series win since 2017. Now they’re seeing each other again for the first time this season, with both sides off to strong starts in the 2026-27 campaign.
The Spurs’ injury list is short but notable. Maliq Brown is out on a G League two-way, Ja’Kobi Gillespie is also out on a G League two-way, Tobias Harris is sidelined with a left calf strain, and Jayden Quaintance remains out after right knee surgery.
Portland’s report is longer. Vit Krejci is out with a left ankle fracture, Ja Morant is out with a left hamstring strain, Shaedon Sharpe is out after right meniscus surgery, John Tonje is out on a G League two-way, and Robert Williams III is resting.
The Blazers have changed plenty since that playoff series. On June 29, they dealt Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to Memphis for Morant, who still has two years and about $87 million left on his max rookie extension. They also got Damian Lillard back after he missed a full year with a torn Achilles.
That reunion was supposed to be the headline. Instead, Morant and Lillard shared the floor for one game, a 124-83 blowout of Phoenix on October 21.
Lillard put up 25 points and hit six threes, while Morant finished with 14 points and eight assists. A week later, Morant strained his left hamstring against his former team, and Portland ruled him out for at least four weeks.
Even without him, the Blazers are sitting at 6-2, though that record comes with some context. They’ve played only four games without their big offseason addition, and two of their three wins came against teams with a combined three victories this season: the Suns and Jazz.
The other win came against Denver, while the one other game in that stretch ended in a loss. That Nuggets result would have carried more weight last season, though Denver is 4-3 right now and still sorting itself out.
The bigger picture is that both teams deserve a closer look. The Spurs’ early surge comes with questions about whether their three-guard lineup can hold up against bigger teams over a full season, and whether the bench can stay steady. Portland has its own concern: what happens if the defense gets stressed with Morant and Lillard logging heavy minutes together?
For San Antonio, though, the immediate test is simpler. The Spurs have shot the ball well enough to keep this run going, and now they get a better defensive opponent to see if that’s real. Against Sacramento, they went 15-for-30 from three, a 50 percent night that pushed their season mark from 32.2% to 33.9% and into the top 20.
Portland’s defense is a step up from the teams San Antonio has faced since Houston, including a Timberwolves group without Rudy Gobert. If the Spurs can keep knocking down shots against a stronger opponent, it would be another sign that the offense is settling in.
They don’t have to live at 50 percent from deep every night. They just need to show those big shooting nights aren’t a fluke.
In Other News...
Spurs Bench Problem Is Putting Luke Kornet Under Real Pressure
Luke Kornets first playoff run as a Spurs backup center has come with a little more heat than he saw a year ago, and not in a good way. His defensive numbers have slipped compared with last season, with opponents finding more success at the rim when he is on the floor, which matters even more for a team that leans so heavily on Victor Wembanyama to anchor the defense.
The bigger issue is what happens when Wembanyama sits. San Antonio has been trying to keep those minutes from turning into a soft spot, but Kornets struggles have put real pressure on that plan, and the Spurs do have another option in Tarris Reed Jr. Reed has barely played, yet his presence gives the staff something to consider if it wants a different look behind Wembanyama. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Gave Spurs Fans A Scare In A Huge Night Against Kings
Victor Wembanyama kept doing Victor Wembanyama things in San Antonios 124-109 win over Sacramento, piling up 30 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks while extending a remarkable defensive run. With at least two blocks in each of his first nine games this season, he moved into the second-longest streak in NBA history, another reminder of how quickly he has become the center of everything the Spurs do on both ends.
The bigger concern came in the middle of the night when Wembanyama twisted his left ankle and sent a jolt through the building. He returned to the floor and helped San Antonio protect its lead, which eased the immediate worry, but it also left the Spurs and their fans waiting to see how he comes out of one of the most productive performances of his young season. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Just Passed An Early Spurs Test Fans Were Watching
Victor Wembanyama has already had to answer one of the first questions that follows any young star into a new season: how will his body hold up when the games get physical? In a pair of early tests, he rolled his ankle against the Dallas Mavericks and later dealt with another ankle injury against the Sacramento Kings, but in both cases he was back on the floor quickly enough to ease some of the concern around him.
For the Spurs, that matters as much as anything else right now. Wembanyama and his teammates point to the work he puts into body care and preparation as a big reason he has been able to keep going through those moments, and it is the kind of detail San Antonio will keep watching closely as his workload grows and the season wears on. [Read more 🡒]