With a little bit over a month to go to coaching camp, speaking heads and consultants across the NBA are beginning to make their predictions for subsequent season. Each offseason, folks ask the identical questions. Which group that didn’t make the playoffs final yr will make it subsequent season? What younger group is able to make the leap? This summer season, the reply to these questions has nearly unequivocally been the San Antonio Spurs.
Former gamers like Jeff Teague and nationwide speaking heads like Zach Lowe have stated the Spurs are a group more likely to go from taking part in for lottery odds to playoff seeding. San Antonio’s win whole has been set at 43.5 by most sports activities books. Final season, 43 wins would earn a Western Convention group the ninth seed and a spot within the Play-In Match. The hype is on the Spurs’ aspect.
We’ve seen this earlier than. The Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, Houston Rockets, and Memphis Grizzlies, in latest reminiscence, went from plucky younger squad to a playoff group written in Sharpie by the nationwide media. These groups all had a number of younger stars and an thrilling younger core. San Antonio follows in these footsteps with Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox main the way in which, backed up by a younger core of Stephon Citadel, Dylan Harper, Devin Vassell, and Jeremy Sochan.
However are the Spurs able to make that leap? They had been simply 5 video games out of the play-in final season, and you possibly can argue that had Wembanyama and Fox not skilled season-ending accidents, San Antonio was in line to earn a play-in spot. A full season with their stars, a second-year leap from Citadel, and contributions from new additions like Harper, Luke Kornet, and Kelly Olynyk, even in a tricky Western Convention, might be sufficient to assist them dwell as much as the hype.
It’ll be a make-or-break season for lots of Spurs, and people expectations may assist them sink or swim. Harrison Barnes is getting into a contract yr and is not any stranger to taking part in on contending groups. Sochan has but to signal his contract extension. If he doesn’t, he’s slated for restricted free company in the summertime of 2026, and simply ask Josh Giddey and Jonathan Kuminga how that has turned out for them. He must have an enormous season if he desires leverage in contract disputes subsequent yr. Even Vassell, who’s locked right into a stable contract, may really feel strain to maintain his spot within the beginning lineup, and will face harsher scrutiny if he goes on a chilly streak.
Expectations for younger groups result in criticism. With Wembanyama, the Spurs will probably be underneath the magnifying glass of the nationwide media all season lengthy. With 22 nationally televised video games, the group will probably be underneath the crucial eye of followers who don’t watch the group evening in and evening out. This group has the expertise to deal with it. They wouldn’t be recognized because the younger group to look at in the event that they didn’t. This Spurs squad has formally moved out of the intriguing younger core, to a legit playoff contender within the West.
