The San Antonio Spurs have exceeded expectations this NBA season.
SAN ANTONIO — The start to the 2025-26 San Antonio Spurs season has been nothing short of outstanding.
The team started 5-0, strung together an 8-game winning streak, beat the reigning NBA champs, the Thunder, in three straight games, reached the 2025 NBA Cup Finals, and went 9-3 without All-Star center Victor Wembanyama, including beating Denver on the road without both Wembanyama and Stephon Castle.
The Spurs currently have one of the best records in the NBA (23-9) and look poised to improve steadily as the season progresses.
Not bad for a team that is coming off a 34-win season in 2024-25 and finished at No. 13 in the West.
With this early success, some feel San Antonio is ahead of schedule in their rebuild, but guard De’Aaron Fox believes the team is right where it should be.
“We feel like we are in this position because we earned it, and we feel like we’re right where we need to be,” he said.
Fox says he tunes out the social media chatter about whether the Spurs are ahead of schedule. Still, if others believe the team is exceeding expectations, he credits the talented roster assembled.
“We might be ahead of schedule with other people, but as I said before, we feel like we have so much talent in this room that we can go out there and compete with anybody.”
The Spurs have proven they can compete with the NBA’s best throughout the season, showcasing their depth with multiple players averaging in double figures and a bench featuring a solid mix of youth (rookie Dylan Harper) and veterans (Keldon Johnson and Julian Champagnie).
Also, the Spurs have proven that it doesn’t have to be Wembanyama carrying the load every game. This season, the team has had several games where others are the best player on the court—a testament to the group’s balance.
Said Fox: “I think we’ve proven that we need to compete with anybody.”
San Antonio is 9-8 against teams with an above-.500 records (including wins over Houston, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Denver, and the Lakers) and is 14-1 against teams with a sub-.500 records.
The Spurs will have plenty of games ahead to prove they belong among the NBA’s best, with games against the Knicks, Thunder, and Lakers in the coming days.
However, the team will not get ahead of itself and is aware that it cannot get too high or too low during the long NBA season.
“Never get too high when we never get too low when we lose,” said Wembanyama after the Spurs’ recent game versus Cleveland.
In addition, head coach Mitch Johnson has noted the season is still young for playoff talk, but given how well the Spurs are playing, it is hard not to see them as a legit playoff contender so early in the season.
But Fox will leave all that talk outside the locker room as his and the team’s focus is on the present.
“I don’t think guys in here are worried about what’s being said on the outside,” said Fox.