Despite Appearances, the Spurs' 50 Wins This Season Haven't Come Easy

It was Victor Wembanyama who first explained the goal for his San Antonio Spurs this season: make the Western Conference Playoffs while avoiding the Play-In Tournament.

"I guess that means the sixth seed," he said.

The Frenchman set the bar low. If San Antonio reached the threshold, it'd have been considered an improvement from a 22-win season his rookie year and the 34-win season that followed, when deep vein thrombosis cut short any hopes at a postseason push.

If San Antonio surpassed the threshold, it'd have been considered a shock. It hasn't paid its dues. It doesn't have the required experience. And it certainly doesn't have history on its side. But Wembanyama, determined to set a new standard, pressed on.

He doubled down on the goal he vocalized during training camp.

"My goal was never to make the play-in," Wembanyama said. "It was to get into the playoffs with no question. That would have made a successful season at the time."

By the end of November, the Spurs were chasing their 15th win of the year with only six losses on their record. By the 13th, they'd recorded their first victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder — three more were yet to come, each one defying greater odds than the last.

When December came around, San Antonio surprised the league with an NBA Cup Final bid. On Dec. 20, it claimed the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference just before beating the Thunder twice in a row, including on Christmas Day at Paycom Center.

"People (were) saying they were unbeatable," Stephon Castle said as the Spurs gained respect as a dark horse contender, "but we come into every game with that same mindset."

Since claiming the No. 2 seed, the Spurs have added only 11 losses to their record. Win No. 35 came on the road against the Dallas Mavericks in between their fourth win over the Thunder and before Castle's historic 40-point triple-double.

In the span between Christmas and that point of the season, nine different players led San Antonio in scoring: De'Aaron Fox, Julian Champagnie, Dylan Harper, Keldon Johnson, Harrison Barnes, Devin Vassell, Luke Kornet, Castle and Wembanyama.

Nobody tuning into games blinked twice at that thought.

"We have a lot of dynamic offensive players," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of his squad's offensive versatility. "We have the potential to have different guys have different nights ... If someone has it going and it's not you, let's feed them."

In Austin during the Spurs' fourth-annual I-35 Series, the Spurs claimed their 40th win as their third straight different player led the scoring charge. Citing an old Phil Jacksonism, Barnes expressed the meaning of reaching that milestone.

If 90 percent of past NBA champions notched 40 wins before 20 losses in any given season, the Spurs were part of the winning contingent with a goal still in front of them.

"(We're) checking those boxes off," Barnes explained. "Getting into the last stretch of how we want to play going into the postseason."

Some nights, success looked simple. Wembanyama's two-way prowess made defensive stops come easy, in turn fueling the Spurs' offense. Other nights, Champagnie's five or six 3s erased a double-digit deficit or created a similar lead in the other direction.

Between Castle, Harper and Fox, San Antonio kept the ball moving and continued to climb in offensive rating, now sitting fourth in the NBA (117.2) with the third-best defensive rating (110.6) and second-highest net rating (7.1) behind only Oklahoma City.

Despite appearances, Wembanyama insisted not one of their wins came "easy."

"Even when it looks easy, it's never easy," he said. "It's still very demanding."

Wembanyama dealt with a calf strain in the middle of the Spurs' late-November stretch that sidelined him until facing the Thunder on Dec. 13. Harper dealt with a similar issue before his teammate, and Castle's hip discomfort kept him on a similar timeline to Wembanyama.

Since all three's return, San Antonio has stayed largely healthy, though a left ankle impingement kept Harrison Barnes out for a few games — ending his 364-game "Ironman" streak — and each of Kornet, Wembanyama, Castle, Champagnie, Vassell, Fox and Keldon Johnson have missed at least one game during their push for win No. 50.

Despite the micro-adjustments Mitch Johnson had to make as a result, he maintained a level-headed approach to missing key players. He accepted some credit on his squad's behalf.

"We're not going to avoid that," he said. "Fifty wins this league is tough. We don't need to make it more than that ... 50 wins in this league is hard to get."

Two of San Antonio's most recent triumphs came amid a six-game home stand that followed its Rodeo Road Trip that largely coincided with its perfect February and longest win streak in a decade. Against the Boston Celtics, Wembanyama was forced to become a 3-point shooter, and against the Charlotte Hornets, the Spurs had to rely on inside scoring.

They executed both adjustments as well as they could have. And this time, there was no shock value associated with the results. The Spurs have felt that way since Austin.

"I don't think we're surprising people anymore," Castle said. “We’re just leaning on each other and understanding that we need other guys, everybody other than Vic, to step up.”

Over five months after setting the initial goal for the Spurs, Wembanyama sat at a podium inside Intuit Dome Monday night and spoke on another season milestone.

For the first time since 2016-17 — the final year of Gregg Popovich's legendary 18-year streak of 50-win seasons — the Spurs had reached the mark again against a potential playoff team. And the 22-year-old leading the charge still wasn't satisfied.

"It's growth," he admitted before cracking a joke, "but it's still not enough. "I want to get to at least 60 (wins) to balance out my rookie season."

The Spurs don't plan to apologize for their accelerated success. With 50 wins already logged and 14 games to play, they're gunning for 64 wins. But more importantly, they're gunning for the right mindset heading to the postseason.

No win this season has come easy. But playoff basketball will only get more difficult.

"I hope we can be this locked in for all the offseasons to come," Wembanyama said, "because it was a really high level of preparation — mentally, physically — for everybody (this summer). The amount of film we did, this is the reason we were so ready for this."