The San Antonio Spurs are off to a strong start to the 2025-26 season as they look to end a six-year playoff drought. More significantly, the Spurs, who have played the long game in their rebuild, are reportedly looking long-term in light of revelations that two of their young guards are “untouchable”.
Spurs Reveal Two Players Are Untouchable In Any Trade
While the NBA season is just halfway through, San Antonio looks like a playoff team and is headed to the NBA Cup semifinals. San Antonio sits tied for fourth in the Western Conference at 17-7 following their 132-119 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers last night. It is their best start to a season since opening the year at 18-5 in 2016-17, and the first time they have posted a winning mark at this point of the campaign in five seasons.
San Antonio is one of the best offensive teams in the league. The Spurs are one of the best offensive teams in the NBA, ranking seventh in offensive rating, averaging 119.6 points per game. The Spurs are also one of the top shooting teams, ranking sixth in effective field goal percentage at 56.4%. Additionally, they are excellent on the offensive glass — averaging 16.8 second-chance points (16.6) — share the ball well, and don’t turn the ball over a ton.
Like many teams, the Spurs have dealt with their share of injuries. Only four players have played in all 23 games thus far. Moreover, Victor Wembanyama (12), De’Aaron Fox (8), Stephon Castle (9), and Dylan Harper (10) have missed a combined 39 games and counting.
Defensively, the Spurs are average, though they struggle defending the 3-point line. However, the Spurs have been much worse on that end over the last 10, allowing 121.1 points a contest on 51.2% shooting from the field — which is nearly six more points than their season average.
Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle Part Of Spurs Future Core
Despite the Spurs’ issues, they continue to collect Ws. The Spurs are 9-3 without Wembanyama and are one of the best teams in the league at home, at 7-2, with a +7.8 scoring margin. Overall, they have eight double-digit wins and are outscoring opponents by nearly 5 points a game.
While the Spurs are not overly deep, they have 10 players who contribute regularly. Like they did against the Lakers, where they shot 50% from the field and drained 17 of 38 attempts from deep (45%). Castle picked up his fifth double-double of the campaign with a season-high 30 points on 10 of 14 shooting, including 3 of 6 from deep, to go along with 10 rebounds and six assists. Fox added 20 points, four rebounds, and three assists. All totaled, seven players tallied double-figures, and their bench, one of the best in the league, totaled 46 points.
Victor Wmbanyama Could Return Soon
Wembanyama is the face of the franchise. The Spurs have one of the best benches in the league and are very strong up front. Besides improved defense, the Spurs need to add to their bench. The Spurs need another ball handler, a shooter, and perhaps another big man who can protect the rim. They do have Luke Kornet, Bismack Biyombo, and Kelly Olynyk, though Kornet has been starting with Wembanyama out.
Speaking of Wembanyama, NBA Insider Mark Medina reported that the big Frenchman may be able to play on Saturday. Wembanyama has missed 12 straight games with a strained left calf, although he’s been a full participant in practice lately. He will likely be on a minutes restriction when he returns.
“Spurs coach Mitch Johnson on if Victor Wembanyama can return for NBA Cup semifinal vs OKC on Sat: “Very much so. He had a very good day today,” Medina tweeted after the Spurs’ victory over the Lakers. “He had a very intense day this morning. We’ll have to see how he responds and reacts tomorrow.”
But what the Spurs really need, if they want to make a run at an NBA title this season or next, is a two-way wing who can make an impact on the defensive end. Or a Stretch-four who can shoot 40% from the 3–point, like New Orleans’ Trey Murphy III or Herb Jones, both of whom could reportedly be had for the right price, and Utah’s Lauri Markkanen.
Who Could The Spurs Trade In a Blockbuster Deal?
Who could the Spurs trade? The Spurs could probably package Harrison Barnes or Devin Vassell with Jeremy Sochan and draft picks. Barnes and Sochan are on expiring contracts. Either the Pelicans or Jazz could likely flip Barnes for more draft capital or young players. Meanwhile, Sochan is a young, athletic, versatile defender—capable of guarding all five positions—who is willing to do all the little things. The Spurs have 28 future draft picks, including 12 first-round picks. Plus, the Spurs have Kelly Olynyk’s expiring contract and rookie Carter Bryant as assets to improve their team this year.
However, it doesn’t sound like Harper or Castle will be part of any package, per ESPN’s Tim McMahon. Castle has shown improvement this year, while Harper has major offensive upside. While the trio (Fox, Castle, and Harper) has defensive inefficiencies, they have complemented each other so far this year.
“I will also just say as a quick aside, as you’re going to the trade machine over the next what is it, a couple of months here, don’t bother putting Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle in any trades,” McMahon said via Yoube “And if that means you can’t come up with things to get uh some huge blockbuster done for the Spurs, I would say, yeah, that’s right. Those guys are going to be in San Antonio, I believe, for a long, long time. I think they’ve got this generation’s version of [Tim] Duncan, [ Tony] Parker, and [Manu] Ginobili.
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