With a talented young core and addition of new veterans, this should be the year the Spurs make a leap.
We are creeping towards September, which means NBA media day and training camp is about a month away. (Although if you’re an NFL or college football fan, there is now something to fill the hole!) That’s close enough for ESPN’ calls its “Summer Forecast Panel” to start releasing its predictions for the 2025-26 season.
Today’s release focused on some generic questions, such as which teams will take the biggest leap, the biggest hit, who will demand a trade, if there will be a new champion, etc. Staffers voted, and the scoring system consists of first-place votes receiving five points, a second-place vote is three points, and a third-place vote is worth one point. Sure enough, the Spurs got some love right off the bat, coming in first place with 55 points on “which teams will take a major leap” next season:
The Spurs produced a streak of 22 consecutive postseason appearances from 1997-98 to 2018-19 and could finally be poised to end their six-year drought after drafting in the top 10 for four straight years. The health and development of San Antonio’s young talent — especially back-to-back NBA Rookie of the Year winners Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle — will be crucial in leading a revamped roster that now features another Rookie of the Year candidate in No. 2 pick Dylan Harper, along with veteran additions such as Luke Kornet and Kelly Olynyk.
Not mentioned is De’Aaron Fox, who is technically not a new addition since he arrived in February, but for all intents and purposes, he might as well be considering he only appeared in five games with Wemby and 17 total before both were out with season-ending health issues. Two of them simply being healthy will give the Spurs a dynamic guard/big combo they haven’t had since arguably 2016-17 with Tony Parker and LaMarcus Aldridge. Add the rookie addition of Dylan Harper (and possibly Carter Bryant if he breaks the rotation), as well as shored up depth behind Wemby in Kornet and Olynyk (although I wouldn’t be against the Spurs using that 15th slot to add one more true center), and they are primed to make the leap that we had hoped would come last year until health issues got in the way.
Interestingly, another team tied them for first place, and its that same team they have been tied to the hip to for quite a while thanks to the trade of their last All-Star point guard: the Atlanta Hawks, who have had a surprising good offseason themselves. It’s a situation worth monitoring since the Spurs own the rights to swap first round draft picks, so they would not want the Hawks to make a similar leap up the standings. At this point, considering the state of the East next season, it’s is probably safe to assume the Spurs will not be picking in the lottery if they take care of their own business, but if things go according to plan, that shouldn’t matter anymore.
That was the only category the Spurs landed in today, but tomorrow the ESPN panel will be voting on who will win awards, so we will presumably be back with at least one glaringly obvious vote — Wemby for Defensive Player of the Year — so stay tuned!
Category: General Sports
