The San Antonio Spurs came into the 2026-27 season with one thing on their mind: pay back the New York Knicks.
That five-game loss in the NBA Finals still hangs over everything, especially because the Spurs built double-digit leads in every game and still walked away empty. Game 2 turned on Victor Wembanyama throwing a pass off Stephon Castle’s back, handing the Knicks a chance to seize control.
Game 4 was even more brutal, with San Antonio coughing up a 29-point lead before OG Anunoby finished it off with a tip in at the buzzer. Then Game 5 ended with Jalen Brunson dropping 45 and putting the series away.
And yet, the path back looks open enough for the Spurs to make another run. Oklahoma City has been hit hard by injuries to key players like Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Cason Wallace.
Anthony Edwards is sidelined for two months, leaving Minnesota scrambling. Denver, meanwhile, looks older and far worse than it did a year ago.
Still, there’s one issue San Antonio has to solve if it wants to turn last season’s heartbreak into a title.
The Spurs’ biggest problem showed up when the games tightened. Their offense can stall when pressure rises, and that was on full display in the Finals.
The Knicks made life miserable for Wembanyama by putting Karl-Anthony Towns on him, using Towns’ body to shove him away from the basket and keep him from getting to his preferred spots. That approach worked because Towns can stretch the floor, which makes defensive rotations tougher for the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
Wembanyama didn’t have a clean answer in Games 1, 4 and 5, all Spurs losses. He was forced into tough perimeter looks and struggled to finish around the rim.
In those three games, he shot 33.8% from the field. The bigger issue was that he still doesn’t have a reliable go-to scoring move when the defense takes away everything easy.
That was the catch for San Antonio. If the Knicks pushed him off the block, he had to catch the ball higher up or even beyond the arc. From there, his handle is good for a player his size, but not good enough to consistently create clean shots on his own.
The league’s best scorers have a move they can lean on when the defense tightens. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can get to his spots in the midrange and finish through contact.
Nikola Jokic can back defenders down and either score with touch or find the open man when the double team comes. Wembanyama doesn’t have that kind of automatic answer yet.
Bulking up might help some, but at 7-foot-4, he’s always going to have a high center of gravity, and players built like Towns are still going to make post catches difficult. That’s why the idea of adding a sky hook or a Dirk Nowitzki-style fadeaway keeps coming up. Either one would give him a weapon defenses can’t easily take away.
He is not going to be Shaquille O’Neal, bulldozing everybody in sight. He is not going to be Hakeem Olajuwon, either. But he does need something that can almost guarantee San Antonio two points when the game gets tight.
LaMarcus Aldridge already pushed the 22-year-old Frenchman to develop a signature move and then build counters off of it. Aldridge, who scored 20,558 points in the NBA by living off that smooth turnaround jumper, knows the value of having one dependable answer.
There’s also the question of how the Spurs handle their backcourt and wing mix. Starting Dylan Harper could help in the long run, especially if Harper, Castle and De’Aaron Fox keep getting more comfortable together. But there’s also a real fit question there, because all three are most dangerous with the ball and someone is going to have to give up touches.
Castle, so far, is the one adjusting the most. He’s averaging 8.2 three-point attempts per game heading into Friday night’s matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves, more than four attempts above last season’s average.
As Joe Mazzulla said, plenty of people get too wrapped up in starting lineups when they’re really just the five players that begin the game. Even so, the Spurs are clearly watching this closely. They could always lean more balanced in the biggest moments by giving Julian Champagnie more minutes and by using Tobias Harris, who is still dealing with a calf strain.
In Other News...
Dylan Harper Is Giving Spurs Fans A New 2025 Draft Argument
Dylan Harper is already forcing a different kind of conversation around the Spurs 2025 draft class. The second pick in that draft is opening his sophomore season as a starter and logging more than 30 minutes a night, a sign that San Antonio is trusting him with a heavy role far earlier than most young guards get in this league.
Harpers rise also gives Spurs fans a fresh way to measure the draft against the top selection, Cooper Flagg. Flagg may still carry the bigger national spotlight, but Harpers path is tied directly to a team with real championship ambitions and a playoff runway that could make his impact feel immediate. For a Spurs team chasing bigger goals this season, that kind of development is exactly why his early stretch matters so much. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Winning Streak Faces A Big Question Before Timberwolves Test
The Spurs head into their matchup with Minnesota trying to keep a winning streak rolling, but the injury report has added a layer of uncertainty to a game that already carries some weight. Stephon Castle is listed as questionable because of a migraine, a notable wrinkle for a San Antonio group that has been leaning into its momentum and will want as much continuity as possible against a Western Conference opponent.
Minnesota has its own issues, with Rudy Gobert questionable because of back spasms and Anthony Edwards still sidelined by a right knee injury. Even with the Timberwolves shorthanded, this is the kind of test that can still tell a lot about where San Antonio stands, especially if the Spurs have to navigate it without one of their young pieces in Castle. [Read more 🡒]
Stephon Castle Is Giving Spurs Fans A New Kawhi Debate
Stephon Castles breakout has given Spurs fans a familiar kind of conversation, the sort that starts with numbers and quickly turns into a bigger debate about what a young wing can become. Early in the 2026-27 season, Castle has been doing a little of everything for San Antonio, averaging 17.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.4 steals while looking far more advanced offensively than most players his age.
The comparison naturally leads back to Kawhi Leonard, whose third-season production now serves as the old benchmark for a new Spurs hopeful. Castles role and development path are different, and that matters, but the early signs are enough to make people wonder whether this is just a hot start or the beginning of something much bigger. He still has plenty of time to answer that question, which is what makes the discussion around him so compelling right now. [Read more 🡒]