San Antonio Spurs

• 1. From Dallas To San Antonio

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  The Dallas Chaparrals began play in the American Basketball Association during its inaugural 1967 season. Coached by player-coach Cliff Hagan, the team finished fourth with a 41-37 record and lost quickly to the New Orleans Buccaneers. Financial struggles plagued the franchise from its third season onward as owners refused to invest capital into the organization. Attendance numbers dwindled while general disinterest grew among fans in Dallas. The team dropped "Dallas" from its name for the 1970-71 season and attempted to become regional by playing games in Fort Worth and Lubbock before returning full-time to Dallas. By the 1972-73 season, the Chaparrals missed the playoffs entirely and nearly all owners wanted out of the league. A group of thirty-five San Antonio businessmen led by Angelo Drossos, John Schaefer, and Red McCombs negotiated a lease agreement to take over the franchise. They initially renamed the team the San Antonio Gunslingers but changed it to the Spurs before playing their first game under that banner. The new branding featured black, silver, and white colors instead of the previous red, white, and blue scheme. Their debut at HemisFair Arena drew six thousand fans despite losing to the San Diego Conquistadors. James Silas led the early Spurs alongside Swen Nater who won Rookie of the Year honors. George Gervin joined the team on the 7th of February 1974 after a judge ruled in favor of the Spurs against an ABA attempt to block the deal. The team finished 45-39 and attracted 6,303 fans per game surpassing the entire attendance total of the Chaparrals in just eighteen games. Ownership exercised their option to buy the franchise outright after only one year.

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• 2. The Scoring Era Of Gervin

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  George Gervin battled David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets for the NBA scoring title during the 1977-78 season. On the final day of play Thompson scored seventy-three points against Detroit to take the lead. That same night Gervin needed fifty-eight points against the Utah Jazz in New Orleans to win the crown. He scored twenty points in the first quarter and set a single-period record with thirty-three points in the second period. Early in the third period he reached his target of fifty-eight points finishing with sixty-three to capture the award. The Spurs won the Central Division with a 52-30 record while Gervin averaged thirty-three point two points per game in the playoffs. They lost to the Washington Bullets in six games despite his outstanding series performance. The following season in the 1979 Conference Finals San Antonio led three-one but the Bullets won the last three games including a seventh game decided by ten-seven to one-zero-five. The team would wait another twenty years to reach the NBA Finals. During this era the Spurs captured five division titles in their first seven years in the league. They became perennial playoff participants yet could never advance past the early rounds losing to teams like Boston, Houston, and Los Angeles. After the 1984-85 season George Gervin was traded to the Chicago Bulls signaling the end of an era that began when the franchise moved to San Antonio.

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• 3. Twin Towers Dynasty

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  David Robinson joined Tim Duncan as the Twin Towers playing together from 1997 until 2003. Both men were skilled offensive players who anchored a formidable defense for the franchise. Their partnership helped lead the team to championships in 1999 and 2003. Duncan emerged as a dominant force during the 1997-98 season averaging twenty-one point one points and eleven point nine rebounds per game while winning Rookie of the Year honors. The team finished 56-26 breaking their own record for single-season improvement set between 1989 and 1990 before losing to the Jazz in the Western Conference semi-finals. A lockout delayed the 1998-99 season by over three months resulting in a shortened fifty-game schedule. The Spurs won thirty-seven games against thirteen losses finishing with the best record in the league at .740 win percentage. They rolled through the playoffs with an eleven-win one-loss record in the West. In the NBA Finals they faced the New York Knicks who became the first eighth seed to reach the championship series. San Antonio won four-games-to-one claiming their first title in Game Five at Madison Square Garden. Duncan earned Finals MVP honors making them the first former ABA team to win the NBA Championship. David Robinson announced his retirement after the 2002-03 season which marked his final year in the league. The team moved into the SBC Center named after telecommunications giant SBC whose headquarters sat in San Antonio. Tony Parker started at point guard alongside Manu Ginóbili who played his first NBA season as a second-round draft choice from Argentina.

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• 4. Popovich System And Big Three

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  Gregg Popovich took over coaching duties following the disastrous 1996-97 season when the team finished twenty wins and sixty-two losses. He had previously served as an assistant coach under Larry Brown before becoming general manager. The Spurs selected Wake Forest product Tim Duncan with the top pick in the 1997 draft marking a turning point for the franchise. Popovich implemented a system emphasizing fast pace unselfish passing and accountability on defense during the early 2010s. Kawhi Leonard arrived via trade from Indiana in 2011 bringing hyper-athletic talent to the rotation. Danny Green Gary Neal and Tiago Splitter received minutes teaching The Spurs Way while veterans like Richard Jefferson departed. The team won fifty games in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season tying Chicago for the best record in the league. They extended their streak of fifty-plus win seasons to thirteen consecutive years setting an NBA record. Popovich won Coach of the Year honors that same year. In 2013 the Spurs reached the Finals against Miami Heat losing Game Seven after Chris Bosh rebounded a miss and Ray Allen hit a three-pointer to tie the game. The core trio of Parker Ginóbili and Duncan won more playoff games together than any other three players on the same team in history. They captured titles in 2003 2005 2007 and 2014 finishing with four championships in fifteen years. Tony Parker became the first European-born player to win Finals MVP averaging twenty-four point five points per game in 2007.

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• 5. Post-Duncan Turbulence

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  Tim Duncan announced his retirement on the 11th of July 2016 ending nineteen seasons with the franchise. He became one of two players to record at least twenty-six thousand points fifteen-thousand rebounds and three-thousand blocks alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar while being the only player to reach one-thousand wins with a single team. The 2016-17 season saw Kawhi Leonard lead the team to sixty-one wins before injuries sidelined him during the Western Conference Finals. Leonard landed on Zaza Pachulia's foot re-aggravating an ankle injury sitting out the remainder of the series. Disputes over injury rehabilitation grew between Leonard and Spurs management leading to his trade request in June 2018. On the 18th of July 2018 he was traded to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan Jakob Pöltl and a protected draft pick. Tony Parker signed with Charlotte Hornets after seventeen years while Manu Ginóbili retired following sixteen seasons. The team finished forty-seven wins and thirty-five losses losing to Golden State in the first round. Their streak of eighteen consecutive fifty-win seasons ended the 3rd of April 2018 when Los Angeles defeated them one-hundred thirteen to one-hundred ten. The 2019-20 season marked the first time since 1996-97 that the Spurs failed to qualify for the postseason ending an NBA record-tying streak of twenty-two consecutive playoff appearances. They finished thirty-two wins and thirty-nine losses during the COVID-shortened campaign.

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• 6. Wembanyama Renaissance

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  On the 16th of May 2023 the Spurs won the draft lottery securing the first overall pick for the third time having previously chosen David Robinson in 1987 and Tim Duncan in 1997. Victor Wembanyama who had long been expected to go number one was selected by San Antonio. The team finished fourteenth in the Western Conference while Wembanyama received unanimous Rookie of the Year honors. He placed second in Defensive Player of the Year voting setting multiple rookie records. During the 2024-25 season Gregg Popovich announced he would step down as head coach due to health issues replaced by Mitch Johnson. De'Aaron Fox arrived via trade with Chicago and Sacramento before Wembanyama missed the rest of the season due to blood clots after forty-six games. Stephon Castle earned Rookie of the Year following the season. On the 13th of January 2023 the Spurs set a regular-season single-game attendance record with sixty-eight thousand three hundred twenty-three spectators at the Alamodome against Golden State. The franchise celebrated its fiftieth anniversary during the 2022-23 season marking half a century since moving to San Antonio.

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• 7. Cultural Identity And Rivalries

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  The Spurs play home games at Frost Bank Center which they sell out regularly despite hosting the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo each February forcing an extended road trip known as the Rodeo Road Trip. They won eight of nine games on their longest single road-trip winning streak achieved in 2003 maintaining winning records throughout this period. Victory parades for NBA titles have been boat trips on the San Antonio River Walk rather than traditional bus processions. Local businessman Peter Holt purchased the team from Red McCombs in 1993 for seventy-five million dollars along with twenty-two other investors. David Robinson participates in community work through the Carver Academy while George Gervin runs the George Gervin Youth Center keeping former players active in San Antonio. The rivalry with Dallas Mavericks features two teams sharing Texas roots with the Mavericks swept by San Antonio in 2012-13 for the first time since Duncan's rookie year. Their last matchup ended ninety-five to ninety-four when Vince Carter's attempt bounced off the rim at the buzzer clinching a playoff spot for sixteen straight seasons. The Spurs and Lakers combined to win seven straight Western Conference titles from 1999 to 2005 meeting five times in six seasons.

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