Adam Silver definitely tends to make exceptional bulletins at the moment of yr, and 2026 isn’t any exception. In actual fact, this yr’s announcement is very profound for Spurs followers as a result of it instantly and instantly impacts the Silver and Black. The announcement additionally impacts this season’s playoffs for all groups, and can proceed to take action for years to return.
That is the announcement: The NBA has moved the San Antonio Spurs to the Jap Convention, efficient instantly. Rumors had already been swirling that the Spurs had been amongst groups that might presumably transfer to Jap Convention as soon as the 2 enlargement groups joined the league as a result of these two groups — the Las Vegas Poker Faces and the Seattle Supersonics — will clearly have to be within the Western Convention. Nonetheless, my league contacts confirmed that there had not been even a touch that the Spurs’ transfer from the West would happen earlier than the enlargement groups joined the league.
Silver’s announcement of the rapid transfer defined his logic — which is tough to dispute. This was Silver’s announcement:
”Efficient instantly, the San Antonio Spurs will turn into a member of the NBA’s Jap Convention. Whereas I count on there’ll some pushback from the Jap Convention playoff groups that hoped to have a simple path the NBA Finals, that’s the actual cause the change in being made now. All of us can see that the 2 finest groups on this 2025-2026 season are the Spurs and the OKC Thunder. With out this transfer, the winner of the Western Convention Finals would successfully be this yr’s champions, that means that the rankings for the Finals can be even worse than final yr’s Finals between two small-market groups.
“Please perceive that this isn’t a one-year shift. Two components assist extending this transfer into the long run. First, the upcoming addition of the 2 enlargement groups within the Pacific time zone. Second, and maybe extra importantly, the Spurs and Thunder each seem poised for an prolonged run of excellence. Each groups are already dominant, have a younger core of fantastic gamers, and have a bevy of draft picks sooner or later. For you NBA sportswriters, “bevy” means “quite a bit”. [Editor’s note – The previous sentence appeared to Adam Silver’s attempt at humor.]
“On the league workplace, we a lot desire to have the 2 prime groups in several conferences. Many imagine that the Lakers – Celtics rivalry within the Eighties saved the NBA. Which may not have occurred if the Lakers and Celtics had been in the identical convention. As a result of these groups met within the NBA Finals, that in flip made the Finals should watch viewing.
“I can’t threat the NBA’s viability by having the Spurs vs. Thunder rivalry conclude every season wherever apart from within the NBA Finals. In any other case, we might be taking a look at a rerun of the Spurs and Lakers Finals wins between 1999 and 2003 towards the Knicks, Pacers, Nets and 76ers. Throughout these years, the groups from the East gained a complete of six video games in these 5 Finals: 20 West wins vs. 6 wins by the East. These groups from the Jap Convention wouldn’t have been within the prime 4 within the West, not to mention made it to the Finals. Frankly, these Jap Convention groups type of sucked, which meant the Finals did too. Wouldn’t these Finals have been higher in the event that they had been the Shaq-Kobe Lakers towards the Duncan-Robinson Spurs? The reply is clear.
“To stability the conferences and exchange the Spurs, the Milwaukee Bucks will instantly be taking part in within the Western Convention till the enlargement groups be a part of the league. I’m doing that so Giannis could have an opportunity to play on this season’s playoffs. He’s my favourite participant.
“I additionally hope that making this transfer at the moment will assist with the league’s tanking drawback, although I’m not certain how or why. Nevertheless it may.”
Clearly a surprising announcement. My ideas:
Due to this transfer, OKC will stay on the prime within the West whereas the Spurs will transfer into the highest seed within the East. It will push the Celtics, Pistons and the opposite Jap Convention groups down a spot. It additionally creates a mad scramble on the backside of the Jap Convention race as a result of one of many groups presently within the 7-10 slots will miss the Play-In match altogether. In each conferences, this surprising growth ought to have the additional advantage of instilling some pleasure within the final weeks of the season. As a reminder, the NBA common season ends on April 12, so there are many common season video games left to play — and time for these remaining video games to shake up playoff seeding in important methods. Simply not as important as transferring the Spurs to the Jap Convention!
Lastly, to see if this announcement was essentially the most gorgeous, I did a bit historic analysis into my prior articles about bulletins at the moment of yr. Readers, you possibly can determine if this transfer of the Spurs’ into the Jap Convention is extra unimaginable than (1) the Spurs signal and commerce with Victor Wembanyama’s French staff to carry him to San Antonio previous to the 2023 NBA draft, (2) Adam Silver’s announcement that he was altering some silly staff names, such because the Utah Jazz, (3) the 2025 commerce of Victor to New Orleans for all the Pelicans roster, (4) Kawhi Leaonard’s announcement that he was returning to the Spurs, and (5) the Spurs possession choice in 2020 to promote the staff to Invoice Gates, thus transferring the staff to Seattle. Remarkably, at the moment —April 1, 2026 — is the anniversary of every of these tales.
