The NBA hasn’t had a team make it to back-to-back Finals since the Golden State Warriors in 2018 and 2019. The San Antonio Spurs are trying to buck that trend.
With a core of Victor Wembanyama, Dylan Harper, and Stephon Castle all under 23 years old, it stands to reason that internal developments and improvements should be enough to get them back to the Finals.
On top of that, the addition of Tobias Harris is expected to go a long way.
The biggest boost the Spurs got this summer, though, was Victor Wembanyama taking a $50 million pay cut. Selfless superstars, it seems, is the recipe for success in the modern NBA.
“The Spurs project to save nearly $10 million per season throughout Wembanyama’s contract, creating critical cap room to help in extending Stephon Castle next offseason and Dylan Harper in summer 2028,” wrote ESPN’s Bobby Marks. “Back in the 2024 offseason, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson agreed to a four-year, $156.5 million contract extension — $113 million less than he was eligible to sign in 2025. In turn, New York was able to re-sign OG Anunoby, trade for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, and win its first championship since 1973.”
Players who demanded more than their fair share, or simply weren’t willing to leave money on the table, haven’t fared as well.
Wemby’s Spurs to Avoid NBA Pitfall
Teams like the Warriors, Celtics, Thunder, Cavaliers, Suns, Nuggets, Heat, and 76ers are a superstar’s dream. In short, you can get paid hundreds of millions of dollars, and never really have realistic title hopes (for the most part)
Last season, Karl-Anthony Towns made $53.1 million. He was the only one of the NBA’s highest-paid 17 players to make the NBA Finals. Simply put, having the most expensive player often results in lackluster seasons.
Wembanyama gave players an example. It’s up to them to follow it.
“Not all players are taking discounts under the current CBA: Since the 2024 offseason, Donovan Mitchell (twice), De’Aaron Fox, Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Jamal Murray, Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Stephen Curry have signed maximum extensions,” Marks added.
12 players have taken a max extension since 2014. Only Fox and SGA signed those contracts with legitimate title-worthy teams. The rest got traded to teams or had their team swing a trade after the fact.
Expensive players like Murray, Embiid, Curry, Butler, Adebayo, Booker, and Mitchell have all fizzled out in the postseason in recent years. Part of that has to do with injuries, but the limited depth teams can acquire while paying maximum contracts is limited. Teams like Denver, Golden State, Philadelphia, and Miami would all fare better if their starters took pay cuts.
The Spurs, it would seem, won’t have that problem as long as Wemby is in town.
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