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The San Antonio Spurs finished last season 62-20, second in the Western Conference, then beat the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a seven-game conference final before the run stalled in the NBA Finals. The New York Knicks won that series 4-1, and the manner of it still stings: San Antonio led every one of the five games by 10 or more in the first quarter, held a 29-point lead in Game 4, and lost four of them anyway. Mitch Johnson’s own verdict afterward was that the team was not yet ready to win a championship.<\/p>\n
The books disagree about how close it now is. Before backing any Spurs ticket, compare the numbers at FanDuel<\/a> and BetRivers<\/a>, and use RG.org’s online sportsbooks<\/a> hub to see how the operators stack up, because the two boards below split on the title, the conference and the awards in ways that decide which app should hold the ticket.<\/p>\n BET THE SPURS AT FANDUEL<\/a>San Antonio Spurs Championship and Season Odds<\/p>\n San Antonio sits at or near the top of every futures board, level with or a shade behind Oklahoma City depending on the book, with the awards market carrying most of the value.<\/p>\n MarketOddsSportsbookImplied ProbabilityNBA Champion 2026-27+280<\/a>FanDuel26.3%NBA Champion 2026-27+250<\/a>BetRivers28.6%Western Conference Winner+150<\/a>FanDuel40.0%Western Conference Winner+140<\/a>BetRivers41.7%50+ Regular Season Wins-2000<\/a>FanDuel95.2%Victor Wembanyama MVP+200<\/a>BetRivers33.3%Victor Wembanyama Defensive Player of the Year-360<\/a>BetRivers78.3%Victor Wembanyama All-NBA First Team-360<\/a>FanDuel78.3%Dylan Harper Sixth Man of the Year+700<\/a>BetRivers12.5%Dylan Harper Most Improved Player+1000<\/a>BetRivers9.1%Stephon Castle Most Improved Player+2500<\/a>BetRivers3.8%Mitch Johnson Coach of the Year+3000<\/a>BetRivers3.2%<\/p>\n Odds current as of Friday, Sept. 18. Futures move quickly once camps open, so check the live number on the best betting apps<\/a> before committing.<\/p>\n The title price is the first thing to shop. FanDuel pays +280 on a San Antonio championship and BetRivers pays +250, so a $100 stake returns $280 at one book and $250 at the other for an identical result. FanDuel also ranks the Spurs second behind Oklahoma City (+240), while BetRivers has the two teams dead level at +250, which makes the FanDuel number the better one regardless of which book’s ranking is right. The Western Conference market follows the same pattern: +150 at FanDuel against +140 at BetRivers, with the Thunder at +125 and +140 respectively on the other side of the coin.<\/p>\n The 50-win line is where the market’s confidence is loudest. FanDuel prices San Antonio at -2000 to reach 50 wins, behind only Oklahoma City at -3000, with New York a long way back at -170. A team that won 62 last season and kept every meaningful piece is treated as a near lock, so the value in the win-total ladder sits in the higher rungs rather than at 50.<\/p>\n SHOP NBA ODDS AT FANATICS<\/a>The Discount That Built the Window<\/p>\n The offseason’s defining move was not a signing but a signature. Wembanyama agreed to a five-year, $252 million extension at 25% of the cap rather than waiting on the 30% supermax escalators that would have pushed the deal to $303 million. The gap is more than $50 million across the life of the contract, and the stated reason was a belief that team potential too often goes unfulfilled because of money. The parallel is Tim Duncan, who repeatedly accepted below-market deals to keep San Antonio’s title teams intact. The comparison has a sharp edge to it: backup center Luke Kornet will earn more this season than Duncan did during the 2013-14 championship year.<\/p>\n The practical effect is room to pay the next two contracts. Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper both become extension-eligible in the coming years, and the discount is what allows the front office to plan on keeping all three. In the short term, the payroll sits at roughly $197.6 million, $2.84 million under the $200.43 million luxury-tax line and $11.42 million below the first apron, with one standard roster spot still open.<\/p>\n What Changed: Harris In, Donovan on the Bench<\/p>\n The roster additions were modest by design. Tobias Harris signed a two-year deal as the one veteran acquisition of note, and the draft added forward Jayden Quaintance at No. 20 and center Tarris Reed Jr. at No. 26. Harrison Barnes was retained, and Kelly Olynyk was the only rotation-level departure.<\/p>\n Harris fills a specific hole. Last season’s playoff bench was thin enough that Harper was the only reserve to average at least eight points, and San Antonio reached the Finals with almost no frontcourt depth behind Wembanyama. Harris brings positional size at 6-foot-8 and 226 pounds, credible wing defense, floor spacing and the ability to manufacture a late-clock bucket, none of which the roster had in that shape a year ago. He is also 34, and the bet is that his decline can be held off for one more season.<\/p>\n The coaching change may matter as much. Sean Sweeney, last season’s associate head coach, left to take over the Orlando Magic, and Billy Donovan, formerly the head coach in Oklahoma City and Chicago, joined Johnson’s staff as an assistant. Donovan, Corliss Williamson, Mike Noyes, Scott King and Matt Nielsen are all listed as assistants; nobody has inherited the associate title. Johnson enters his second full season in charge, and the Coach of the Year board reflects how little credit a 62-win incumbent gets: he sits at +3000 at BetRivers, well behind Sweeney at +1000 for a Magic job he has not yet coached a game in.<\/p>\n The 21-man camp roster breaks down as 14 standard contracts, three two-way deals (Maliq Brown, Ja’Kobi Gillespie, David Jones Garcia) and four camp invites (R.J. Davis, Jon Elmore, Taelon Peter, Malik Williams). The group has to be trimmed to 18 by Oct. 19, the day before the regular season opens. One small note from the roster sheet: Carter Bryant is now listed at 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds, up from 6-foot-6 and 220 a year ago.<\/p>\n The Backcourt Is the Season’s Only Real Question<\/p>\n The projected starting five is De’Aaron Fox, Castle, Devin Vassell, Harris and Wembanyama, with Harper, Bryant, Julian Champagnie, Keldon Johnson, Barnes and Kornet forming the rotation. On paper it is settled. In practice, the point guard spot is the one place the market and the coaching staff are both watching.<\/p>\n Harper broke out in the postseason, scoring 21 in the Game 4 collapse that decided the Finals, and 22.6 minutes per game is not a sustainable allocation for a player of that trajectory. Fox had a rough Finals, but the organization’s position is that San Antonio does not reach June without him, and that he played through a high right ankle sprain to get there. The starting decision belongs to Johnson and will be made on the floor. The wrinkle is the three-guard lineup: Fox, Castle and Harper shared the court in 18 games last season and posted a minus-26.9 net rating, a number so poor that the only case for revisiting it is a full offseason together.<\/p>\n This is where the awards board gets interesting. If Fox keeps the job, Harper runs the second unit and becomes the most obvious Sixth Man of the Year candidate on a 60-win team, priced at +700 at BetRivers behind only Ajay Mitchell at +600. If Harper takes the job, he loses Sixth Man eligibility but becomes a live Most Improved Player candidate at +1000, tied for the shortest price on that board with Brandon Miller. One of the two tickets is almost certain to be live by December, and neither is expensive now.<\/p>\n Castle’s own Most Improved price of +2500 is worth a mention. His two-point shooting last season swung from 60% through December to 40% in January, 59% in February and around 50% from there until the Finals, which made him statistically the streakiest player in the league. A season of the February version is a very different player from the January one.<\/p>\n Wembanyama and the MVP Case<\/p>\n Wembanyama averaged 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 3.1 blocks and 1.0 steals across 64 regular-season games, won Defensive Player of the Year and led the league in blocks. He did it in 29.2 minutes a night, including 55 starts and a stretch off the bench while managing his workload. The MVP market has made him the favorite at +200 at BetRivers, ahead of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at +350 and Nikola Jokic at +400.<\/p>\n The case for the price is volume and narrative: a 62-win team, a Finals appearance, and a player who is still the league’s most dominant defender while adding scoring every year. The case against is minutes. MVP voting has historically punished load management, and 29 minutes a game on a deep team is thin for a winner. The Defensive Player of the Year price of -360 is a fairer reflection of what the market actually believes is certain; the MVP price is a bet on the offensive leap happening this year.<\/p>\n SHOP SPURS FUTURES AT BETRIVERS<\/a>Dates to CircleSept. 29 \u2014 Training camp opens.Oct. 8 vs. Atlanta \u2014 The preseason opener at Frost Bank Center, and the first look at the Fox-Castle-Harper rotation question. Hawks rookie Kingston Flemings, a San Antonio native, returns home.Oct. 10 at Phoenix, Oct. 12 at Utah, Oct. 14 vs. Phoenix, Oct. 16 vs. Sacramento \u2014 The remaining preseason dates.Oct. 19 \u2014 Roster cut-down to 18.Oct. 20 vs. Oklahoma City \u2014 Opening night, a rematch of the seven-game Western Conference final, at home.Best Bets and Predicted FinishBest Bet: Spurs to win the NBA championship at +280 at FanDuel<\/a>, not +250 at BetRivers. The roster that won 62 games and a seven-game series against the champions returns intact, adds the one thing it lacked in June, and the best player is 22 with room to grow. The FanDuel number pays 12% more than BetRivers on the same outcome, and ranks San Antonio behind Oklahoma City where BetRivers has them level, which is the definition of a book giving something away.Value play: Dylan Harper for Sixth Man of the Year at +700 at BetRivers<\/a>. The organization has said publicly that Fox is the likely opening-night starter, which makes Harper the most productive reserve on the best team in the West. Voters gravitate to that profile. The risk is a midseason promotion that kills eligibility, and the hedge is the next line.Hedge: Dylan Harper for Most Improved Player at +1000 at BetRivers<\/a>. A small stake on both Harper tickets covers the backcourt decision either way. If he starts, the Most Improved case builds on a jump from 22.6 minutes to a full starter’s load on a title contender.Longshot: Mitch Johnson for Coach of the Year at +3000 at BetRivers<\/a>. Coaches of 60-win teams rarely win this award unless the record improves, but a 65-win season with a new rotation and a settled point-guard answer would put him in the conversation at a price that assumes he cannot be.Fade: Wembanyama for MVP at +200. The talent justifies favoritism; the minutes do not yet. Anyone who wants Wembanyama exposure gets a far more certain outcome at -360 on Defensive Player of the Year, and the MVP ticket will still be available at a reasonable number in December if the workload changes.Predicted finish: 61-21, first in the Western Conference. That is one win short of last season with a harder schedule as the hunted rather than the hunter, but the seeding matters more than the total: home court in a conference final against Oklahoma City decided the West last spring, and it will be the difference again.<\/p>\n Before placing a futures ticket that will not settle until June, review the full slate of US sportsbooks<\/a>, check the latest sportsbook promos<\/a> and, for bettors in Illinois, where the BetRivers numbers above are posted, read the rules for Illinois sports betting<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Antonio Spurs finished last season 62-20, second in the Western Conference, then beat the defending champion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-862501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}