San Antonio Spurs: 3 bold predictions for the 2019-20 season

Predictions on the San Antonio Spurs have ranged anywhere from fridge contention to missing the postseason altogether. If each of their pieces steps up in 2019-20, just how high is their ceiling?

If given one to two sentences to explain just how deep and competitive the Western Conference field is, how would you explain it? For the San Antonio Spurs, it sounds a little something like this:

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Somehow, there’s a team with two All-NBA caliber players, an All-Defensive First Team stalwart preparing his return, a slew of battle-tested, versatile role players and arguably the best coach in all of professional basketball — and the general consensus is that they’ll just narrowly make the postseason, if at all.

Of the 22 consecutive postseason appearances for the Spurs, it’s difficult to remember a summer in which this many analysts saw a downturn of this magnitude.

In 1996-97, the first season in a two-decade reign of terror, Dean Oliver’s prediction suggested right away that the addition of Tim Duncan would lead to a 40-win turnaround, and spoiler alert: it did.

Then, at the turn of the decade, Shams Charania predicted a sub 50-win season (Spurs did Spurs things, and ran off a 61-21 record), and others suggested they’d shift from championships to merely being competitive.

But to miss the postseason altogether?

In the past, the “age would catch up to them” argument became the go-to. The Spurs will be entering the 2019-20 campaign nearly outside of the top-10 in average age, which in some ways could explain the lack of distrust pundits have in them.

In a best case scenario, much of what the San Antonio Spurs plan to do will be contingent on the breakouts (or even a second breakout) of their young core.

As HoopsHabit’s Nathan Burleyson pointed out, the amount of under-25 players that will be tasked with stepping up is both exciting, but also alarming.

Today, though, it’s time to get bold. In an injury and drama-free, how far into the deep end can predictions get with this upcoming Spurs team, while still remaining at least slightly realistic?

Here, we’ll run off three bold predictions that I could very well come to regret in as early as a month.