SAN ANTONIO – If anyone isn’t already on board, now appears to be the time to hop on the San Antonio Spurs’ bandwagon.
Victor Wembanyama’s name, frame and game have already earned widespread recognition ranging from the NBA’s top rookie last season to a valiant effort against Team USA in Saturday’s gold medal game at the 2024 Summer Olympics in his native France.
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The 20-year-old’s profile is rising ever so higher around the league and Thursday’s NBA schedule release is the best indicator of Wembanyama and the Spurs’ ascent. Twenty-one of San Antonio’s 82 regular season games will air nationally on ESPN, TNT or NBA TV.
Other Spurs, old and young, will also receive their well-earned shine, as well. This fall, future Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul will don the Silver and Black for the first time. NBA champion and veteran forward Harrison Barnes will also add some maturity to a young roster.
Included among San Antonio’s young crop is 21-year-old Jeremy Sochan, who has played everything from forward to point guard since was drafted by the Spurs in 2022.
In honor of Sochan and his No. 10 jersey, here are the top 10 Spurs games worth watching for the 2024-25 regular season.
10. Boston at San Antonio (Saturday, March 29, 2025, at 7 p.m.; airs on NBA TV)
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have developed into one of the most unguardable duos in recent memory, but the arrival of the defending champion Celtics also gives the Spurs a target to aim for.
San Antonio hopes to return to where Boston has been an NBA record 18 times before: the last team standing.
9. Milwaukee at San Antonio (Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, at 7 p.m.)
Milwaukee was *this close* to catastrophe when it played the Spurs last season in San Antonio.
The Bucks, who entered that night 14 games above .500, were tied with the Spurs with a minute left in regulation. San Antonio, who entered that night 23 games below .500, took advantage of a porous Milwaukee defense to make things interesting late.
It also marked the first time Giannis Antetokounmpo (44 points, 19-for-28 shooting, 14 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, one block) and Victor Wembanyama (27 points, 10-for-18 shooting, nine rebounds, five blocked shots, one assist, one steal) shared the floor in a regular season game.
8. San Antonio vs. Phoenix at Moody Center in Austin (Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, at 8:30 p.m.; airs on TNT)
Feb. 20, 2025, will be a reunion of sorts at the state capital.
Spurs point guard Chris Paul will suit up on the other side of one of his former teams, the Phoenix Suns. The Suns won a Western Conference championship and made their first NBA Finals appearance in 28 years with Paul as their starting point guard. It was also Paul’s first and only NBA Finals appearance in his career.
The Feb. 20, 2025, matchup will also be a full-circle moment for Suns star Kevin Durant. Durant, who played one season at the University of Texas in 2006-07, is expected to suit up for this game at the Moody Center, the new basketball home for the Texas Longhorns.
The Frank Erwin Center, the arena affectionately known as “The Drum” where Durant played home games at UT-Austin, was successfully demolished earlier this year.
San Antonio’s matchup against Phoenix will be the first of back-to-back games in Austin. The Spurs will face the Detroit Pistons on Feb. 21, 2025.
7. Denver at San Antonio (Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, at 7 p.m.; airs on NBA TV)
San Antonio’s 2023-24 Game of the Year came at the expense of the Denver Nuggets.
The Spurs hosted the then-defending champion Nuggets on April 12, an important game for Denver in its quest to earn the top seed in the Western Conference.
In any event, ex-Spurs guard Devonte’ Graham had other ideas.
Graham’s floater with under one second to play completed a 23-point comeback and dropped the Nuggets from the No. 1 seed to the No. 2 seed heading into the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
What might the Spurs have up their sleeves this time around?
6. Los Angeles Clippers at San Antonio (Tuesday, Dec. 31 at 6 p.m.)
This matchup could have plenty of fireworks before the sun goes down on New Year’s Eve.
The Clippers’ DNA has changed slightly with forward Paul George joining the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason, but there’s still plenty of meat on that bone.
If you take some Spurs’ fans disdain for ex-Spur Kawhi Leonard, a simmering beef between ex-teammates Chris Paul and James Harden, add some broth, a potato, and baby, you’ve got a stew going.
If fans decide to voice their criticism toward Leonard, be advised. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich can likely hear all of it.
5. San Antonio vs. Indiana in Paris (Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, at 1 p.m. airing on NBA TV and Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at 11 a.m. airing on ESPN)
San Antonio will make another trip across the Atlantic Ocean to play in France, but this time, the Spurs will play two games instead of one.
The Spurs will be joined across the pond by the Pacers, who are led by sharpshooter, sharp passer and Olympic gold medalist Tyrese Haliburton. Indiana will largely return a roster that earned its first Eastern Conference appearance in 10 years.
It could also be a redemptive moment for Victor Wembanyama. After he shed tears on the Accor Arena floor following Team USA winning its fifth consecutive gold medal at the Olympics in Paris, Wembanyama has an opportunity to right a wrong.
He can return to Paris and leave Europe with two NBA wins in his back pocket. Problem solved.
These two games will be San Antonio’s fourth and fifth games all-time on French soil.
4. Los Angeles Lakers at San Antonio (Friday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m.; airs on ESPN)
Speaking of the Olympics, another gold medal rematch is in store for Lakers vs. Spurs on Nov. 15.
Victor Wembanyama and Lakers center Anthony Davis will square off in the middle as they did on Saturday in Paris. Davis, who came off the bench during the gold medal game for Team USA, was the lone major force for the United States.
In 20 minutes of action, Davis scored eight points, grabbed nine rebounds, blocked four shots, logged two steals and one assist. Wembanyama, himself, was spectacular, scoring 26 points (11-for-19 shooting), making three 3-pointers, hauling in seven rebounds with two assists and one steal.
Nov. 15 will also be both teams’ first West Group B action in this season’s NBA Cup. The Lakers won the first edition of the NBA Cup last season.
3. Oklahoma City at San Antonio (Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 8:30 p.m.; airs on TNT)
It’s not obvious, but it’s also super obvious the lengths the NBA is appearing to go to market Spurs-Thunder as one of the league’s important future rivalries.
Oklahoma City has its own seven-footer with uncommon skills in Chet Holmgren, who would have been the 2023-24 NBA Rookie of the Year had it not been for Wembanyama’s impressive first season with the Spurs.
The Spurs and Thunder, who were curiously bound as members of West Group C during last year’s NBA Cup, are once again together in West Group B for this year’s NBA Cup.
If you’re having Olympic distance-running withdrawals, then Chet vs. Victor is the matchup for you.
2. San Antonio at Dallas (Thursday, Oct. 24 at 6:30 p.m.; airs on TNT)
With more national television appearances comes great responsibility for the Spurs.
San Antonio will tip off its season on the road against the defending Western Conference champion and in-state rival Dallas Mavericks on TNT.
It will also be odd to see two former teammates put on very different uniforms. Harrison Barnes will wear the Silver and Black while longtime Golden State Warrior Klay Thompson will suit up in a Mavericks jersey.
The season opener is far from the only rough matchup awaiting the Spurs during the first month of the regular season.
Not including NBA Cup-designated games, San Antonio will face an improving Houston Rockets team three times, the Mavericks twice, the Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors all before Thanksgiving.
1. San Antonio at New York (Wednesday, Dec. 25 at 11 a.m.; airs on ESPN)
The Spurs are getting back into the holiday spirit.
San Antonio will play its first Christmas Day basketball in 11 years when it faces the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. So far this offseason, the Knicks have added to a roster their diehard fans believe can knock off the Boston Celtics and vault the team to its first NBA Finals appearance in 25 years.
Ironically enough, it has now been 25 years since the Spurs locked up their first NBA title with a Game 5 victory at, of all places, Madison Square Garden.
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