- Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA
- Home court: AT&T CENTER
- G.M: Brian Wright
- Coach: Gregg Popovich
- Star: F Keldon Johnson
- 2021 Season: 34-48, lost to the Pelicans in a play-in game.
- NBA Titles: Five: 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014
- Greatest Player: F Tim Duncan.
- Factoid: From 1999–2000 to 2016–17, the Spurs won 50 games each season, setting a record of 18 consecutive 50-win seasons. In the 2018–19 season, the Spurs matched an NBA record for most consecutive playoff appearances with 22.
There has never been, and likely, there will never be another NBA franchise like the San Antonio Spurs of the last 25 years.
It goes beyond the remarkable success – five NBA titles since 1999. Even during their heyday, public sentiment leaned toward this narrative, “The Spurs are a really good, well-coached team, but they are not great.”
The team’s star, check that, superstar, Tim Duncan, was so fundamentally sound, so remarkable efficient, so unspectacularly excellent that public sentiment leaned toward this narrative, “He’s a great player, but he’s not one of the greatest of all time.”
Only years after his retirement has Duncan’s named been mentioned among the greats.
The coach, Gregg Popovich, has managed to keep a remarkably low profile while being the face of one of the most successful NBA franchises of all time. At a time when many coaches and athletes sidestep commenting on hot-button issues, Popovich, an Air Force veteran, has never hesitated to express his opinion in a clear, blunt fashion.
Popovich’s first head coaching job was the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, which is the joint men’s basketball team of Pomona College and Pitzer College. He is now the winningest coach in NBA history.
All of this has taken place in one of the NBA’s smallest markets.
The next time you hear a fanbase – big or small – gripe that they can’t find the keys to success, point to the Spurs: A stable franchise, led by a principled coach, leading a team of selfless players. Call it old school if you’d like. The Spurs just call it winning.