San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) goes up to block a shot by Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) during the third quarter of Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. After the Spurs toppled the Thunder in seven games, Oklahoma City drafted 7-foot-3 Aday Mara to help it regain its Western Conference crown.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
Having been overtaken by a man standing 7-foot-4, the Thunder decided this summer they needed to become as tall as possible. Having already tried that strategy against Victor Wembanyama, the Timberwolves gave up on height and zagged in the opposite direction.
Having been eliminated in part by a backcourt with a trio of point guards, the Trail Blazers decided to one-up the Spurs by assembling a quartet of them. And having watched the best team in the West fall in the NBA Finals to a bunch of guys pushing the age of 30?
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The Warriors, apparently, are ready to find out if adding the league’s oldest player to the league’s oldest roster will prove to be San Antonio’s kryptonite.
This is what happens when you make a leap like the one the Spurs just made. Every other contender in the conference makes toppling you their main objective, even if they all can’t agree on how to do it.
So as free agency was set to open Tuesday evening, the Spurs did not need to make a splashy signing to make their presence felt. Their competition is coming for them, on multiple fronts.
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It’s should come as no surprise, then, that general manager Brian Wright would want to diversify his countermeasures.
Just as there’s danger in overreacting to three brutal fourth quarters against the Knicks, there’s also peril in assuming that the teams the Spurs beat in the playoffs won’t come back with a better plan the next time. Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, the reigning back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player, is among those stars who figure to be obsessing over Wembanyama for the next 10 months.
That’s how it works. First Wembanyama used the MVP trophy presentation to drive him in the conference finals, and now Gilgeous-Alexander will use Wembanyama’s teary-eyed celebration on Oklahoma City’s home floor to remind him he still has something to prove next season.
But it’s not just about individual motivation. This will be the first offseason of the Wembanyama era in which rival front offices, scouting departments and analytics operations try to build their version of a Spurs stopper.
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San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) gives Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) a hard stare after he dunked the ball during the third quarter of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Sunday, May 24, 2026.
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San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, right,, drives to the basket against Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
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San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) guards Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) during the first half of Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) comes from behind to try and block the shot of Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) during the first half of Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Friday, May 22, 2026.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) drives to the basket for a dunk past Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) during the second half of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Monday, May 18, 2026. The Spurs defeated the Thunder 122-115 in double overtime.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
Some of those teams’ ideas won’t work, because San Antonio has better players than they do. But when you look at how Western Conference postseason teams have adjusted already this offseason, you can see all sorts of ways in which the Spurs might have potential vulnerabilities tested.
Start with the Thunder, who held a 3-2 lead in the conference finals before the Spurs came back to win the series in seven games. Oklahoma City already had two productive 7-footers in Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, and Holmgren was mostly neutralized against Wembanyama.
So what did the Thunder do in last week’s draft? They added yet another huge body to throw at the Spurs, selecting 7-foot-3 Michigan center Aday Mara with the 12th overall pick. If they can keep two of those three big men on the floor at all times in a potential playoff rematch, it might cause problems for a San Antonio team that lacked a rough-and-tumble frontcourt sidekick.
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The dearth of non-Wembanyama size proved to be a liability in the Finals, which led to the Spurs taking both Jayden Quaintance and Tarris Reed in last week’s draft, and also made the addition of an established power forward one of the team’s top priorities in free agency.
But trying to overwhelm inside isn’t the only way opponents are going to try to attack the Spurs next season.
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Minnesota, whose collection of variably-skilled giant bodies had posed a challenge to San Antonio until it didn’t, parted ways with Julius Randle and Naz Reid and chose instead to push the tempo with Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball.
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Portland traded for Ja Morant, and even though the Blazers appear to have way too many point guards when one considers that Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday and Scoot Henderson already are there, might a trade for Jaylen Brown give them some of the offensive firepower they lacked against the Spurs?
And if LeBron James really is set to join Stephen Curry in Golden State, there’s no guarantee that either of them will stay healthy long enough to recreate the 2024 Paris Olympics next spring. But that’s the kind of pairing that could test how much Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper have learned about how to close out playoff games.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) tries to block a shot by Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) during the second half of an NBA game in San Antonio, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. After the Spurs’ surprising run to the NBA Finals other Western Conference contenders are gearing up in free agency to topple them. In Golden State, the prospect of pairing Curry with LeBron James could be a strong opposition for the Spurs.
Marvin Pfeiffer/San Antonio Express-News
Then there are teams like the Nuggets, Rockets and Lakers, who undoubtedly are brainstorming “Spurs stopper” lineups of their own. The good news for Wright is that he doesn’t have to make a separate signing to cover each one.
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Most of the smartest counter moves already reside in his locker room. We haven’t seen the best of Wembanyama, Castle or Harper yet. Carter Bryant stands to benefit immensely from an extra year of weight-training and know-how. De’Aaron Fox, presumably, will begin next season with two healthy ankles.
Throw all that together, and it might be enough to keep the rest of the West from catching up.
But as some contenders get taller, others get quicker, and others get older?
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They all know who they’re chasing now.