Spurs 'See What it Takes' to Be Championship Team

The San Antonio Spurs learned some lessons against the Denver Nuggets.

The San Antonio Spurs used their loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday night as a learning experience, or at least that's how Gregg Popovich is framing things.

The Spurs are out of contention this season after never really contending in the first place, but the blueprint for success is there: build around Victor Wembanyama.

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In the same sense that the Nuggets won a championship and will be competing for several more behind Nikola Jokic, the Spurs are assembling talent to build around Wembanyama, and even losses to Denver can highlight the direction the Spurs should move in. 

"The good thing about playing the Nuggets is we get them two more times," said Popovich. The Spurs have played two decent games against Denver, and might be able to sneak away with a win later in the season.

"If you get to play against the championship team, you see what it takes. Some things you can't match. You can't match the talent level that they have right now with the young team (Spurs), but you see what it takes for consistency, and we have the effort that is proud of where they played," continued Coach Pop.

The Spurs are not thrilled about their record. "It sucks," remarked Zach Collins, but they are using games like this as learning experiences. 

A game where the Spurs are simply overmatched on both sides of the court usually results in a loss, so rather than hang their head, the young Spurs are following the blueprint for long-term success that was laid when the lottery went the Spurs' way.

Prediction: How Many Wins Will Spurs Get?

Collins seems optimistic that after hard lessons are learned this year, the Spurs will be a well-oiled machine in 2024-25. "It's no question that losing this much hurts and we're not we're not trying to get used to it," he said. 

The Spurs will play the Nuggets twice in April, alternating who gets to host the game.