SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs made it clear Monday at Media Day: The expectation is to win the Western Conference again and make another run at an NBA championship.
Monday’s session at the Victory Capital Performance Center marked the franchise’s first media day following a playoff appearance since 2019 — and its first after an NBA Finals run since 2014.
The Spurs did not shy away from discussing the emotional toll of their Game 5 loss in the NBA Finals, a defeat that lingered throughout the offseason.
“I’ve had a few sleepless nights — maybe not sleepless nights, but times where it was hard to find sleep, hard emotions, haunting sometimes,” Victor Wembanyama said. “There is just a point where you accept that you have to go through it and you have to feel all of it.”
Second-year guard Dylan Harper said the loss is something that will stay with him.
“Definitely still with me. It’s probably going to be with me forever,” Harper said. “That’s probably a moment that I think we all will never forget, and I personally will just use it as fuel to the fire for the whole year and for years to come.”
Mitch Johnson, entering his third season as the Spurs’ head coach, was candid about how much he has reflected since the Finals defeat.
“A lot. I’ve probably contemplated the last 15 months up until that point,” Johnson said. “I blacked out in terms of — you just ride the never-ending, unforgiving current of this league.”
“The part that will stay with me the longest is just how close we were to winning it,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle added. “I think that it’ll just shape our character for really the rest of our lives.”
“It stuck with me for a bit,” Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox said. “You take your time off, you try to get healthy, get your body right, work out again, doing everything that you’re used to doing — obviously, you know, you think about it, it’s in the back of your mind, but you don’t want to let that dwell on you.”
Questions also arose about the Spurs’ crowded backcourt, a polarizing offseason topic, and whether Harper will be in the starting lineup.
Castle and Harper dismissed any concern about roles.
“That’s just pretty much all outside noise,” Castle said. “Whoever starts, whoever doesn’t start, if we all start together — I think we’ll be fine either way. We’re three high-level guards that are pretty unselfish and can touch the paint whenever.”
“The biggest thing for me is whatever I can do, just like last year, to help the team win,” Harper said. “Whatever position the coaches think is best for me to be in, that’s a position I’m happily going into. Whatever happens this year, just know that I’m always going to stay positive and I’m always going to be at the forefront of keeping the team together.”
The Spurs will open up training camp on Tuesday before hosting Brennan High School alum Kingston Flemings and the Atlanta Hawks for their preseason opener on Oct. 8 at Frost Bank Center.
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