The San Antonio Spurs made waves in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft. As expected, with the 20th pick, the Spurs selected a power forward, adding Jayden Quaintance from Kentucky.
Originally projected to make just a single pick, the Spurs traded up into the first round, sending the Denver Nuggets two second-round picks in exchange for number 26, where they nabbed Tarris Reed Jr. from UConn.
Neither player is expected to have a massive impact right away. Quaintance could miss up to six months with a lingering knee injury, and Reed should be the third-string center behind Victor Wembanyama and Luke Kornet.
Still, the Spurs doubled down on a core identity with their picks.
Spurs Embrace Physically and Rebounding
No matter who their opponent was in the NBA playoffs, a key weakness for the Spurs was allowing the opposition to crash the offensive glass.
When Wembanyama gets drawn out to the perimeter, the Spurs’ rebounding suffers, and oversized forwards like OG Anunoby and old-school big men like Isaiah Hartenstein and Robert Williams can make them pay.
While Quaintance is not expected to be a day-one starter, he will eventually get minutes with Wembanyama, allowing Wemby to roam on both ends of the floor while holding down the paint.
Adding a player like him was intentional, and trading up for Reed just shows how much emphasis the Spurs put on their brimming physicality.
“I think the thing you learned across the playoffs was just the physicality part, right?” outlined general manager Brian Wright after the draft. “I think you all saw it. We all felt it. I thought our team raised our level across each series. And how we adapted and how we brought our own physicality. And I think both guys that we added tonight do that. I talked about rim protection. I talked about rebounding. We’re a fast-paced, fast-playing team. And in order to do that, you gotta get stops. You gotta rebound. You gotta protect the rim and play off your defense. And we think that both players, in a variety of different ways and different coverages, help us do that.”
Quaintance averaged 7.5 rebounds per game across 28 contests at Arizona State and Kentucky before knee injuries cut his college career short.
Reed, meanwhile, posted nine boards per game in his final season with the Huskies. While he and Stephon Castle never shared the floor together, the Dan Hurley-built toughness is expected to carry over to the NBA, and the Spurs are quickly becoming a gritty team.
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