What's next for the Spurs? Why the path to building a champion around Wemby could include trading De'Aaron Fox

What's next for the Spurs? Why the path to building a champion around Wemby could include trading De'Aaron Fox Following an NBA Finals loss to the Knicks, the Spurs could look to emulate the Thunder's title-winning blueprint By Sam Quinn Jun 14, 2026 at 12:46 am ET • 20 min read Add CBS Sports on Google Getty Images NBA superstars tend to be somewhat impatient. Victor Wembanyama seems to be the exception.

When his San Antonio Spurs sat out of the trade deadline in February, he gave his stamp of approval. "If there's any message to be taken from it, it's that we trust who we are, we trust the process," Wembanyama said. "And what I love is that the front office trusts these guys just like I do."

He doubled down on that sentiment when the Spurs knocked the Portland Trail Blazers out of the first round of the playoffs. "I know (general manager) Brian (Wright) knows who we are and trusts the process," Wembanyama said. "He should get Executive of the Year also for not making a move."

Could San Antonio have won the championship with a splashy deadline addition? Probably, considering how close those games were, but we'll never know for certain. What we can surmise here is that San Antonio's NBA Finals defeat in five games at the hands of the New York Knicks will not lead to any internal pressure.

Wembanyama is not going to demand changes. The Spurs aren't going to look for shortcuts. It's hard to imagine they're about to pursue Giannis Antetokounmpo, for instance.

With NBA Finals loss, Victor Wembanyama is experiencing painful lesson once learned by LeBron, Magic, Dirk Sam Quinn That doesn't mean the Spurs will or should ignore what just happened. In the Western Conference Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder poked some real holes into San Antonio's roster design. Then, in the NBA Finals, the Knicks tore through those holes and showed the Spurs exactly where the patching needs to begin.

Ironically, the Thunder might be the example for San Antonio to follow here. Their rise came two years ago, in 2024. They didn't rock the boat at that trade deadline, much like the Spurs sat out this year's festivities.

They used their 2024 postseason loss to Dallas as a means of self-evaluation, added Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein, and came back to win the championship a year later. Could the Spurs follow a similar path? Some of this is internal.

There are flaws here that can only be solved through Wembanyama's continued improvement. But there are other questions here that San Antonio can and will address through roster moves. They may not seek Antetokounmpo, but their versions of Carusos and Hartensteins are out there.

So let's try to figure out how they can get them.What tools do the Spurs have to work with?The third offseason of a young star's career is typically a roster-building inflection point.

It is the last season in which that young star's salary is artificially deflated by the rookie scale. Next offseason, Wembanyama's max rookie extension will kick in, making the Spurs far less financially flexible than they are right now.If the Spurs merely renounce the rights to their own free agents, they could get to around $6 million in cap space.

That's not much. They could potentially reach more than $20 million in space if they could find a taker for Keldon Johnson's contract. That would have been an unthinkable proposition only a few weeks ago.

Johnson is the Sixth Man of the Year and vital to San Antonio's culture. But he was mostly a non-factor in the Finals; if moving him opens doors to the right additions, it shouldn't be ruled out entirely. More likely, they'll keep him and have access to the nontaxpayer mid-level exception at around $15 million in the first year of a deal.

They will probably be cautious about giving out an especially long contract with that exception, as Wembanyama's rookie extension kicks in next year and Stephon Castle's looms a year after that. However, the Spurs are about as desirable a free agent destination as exists in the NBA right now, so they'll probably do well with that exception if they use it. NBA Finals winners and losers: Every Knicks move looks brilliant, Victor Wembanyama blows golden opportunity Sam Quinn The next order of business is taking care of their own.

Harrison Barnes is the only especially notable internal free agent, but he's valuable as both a regular-season minutes eater and locker room figure. He'll likely be back on a reasonable contract. And then there's Julian Champagnie, who replaced Barnes in the starting lineup.

He has a $3 million team option for next season, but is eligible for a four-year, $87 million extension on top of it. One way or another, expect him back on a long-term deal. As of now, the Spurs have around $44 million in room beneath the luxury tax line.

That's probably their unofficial ceiling for next season. Considering how young this team is and therefore how long it is likely to stay together, they'll want to delay their repeater tax clock as long as p