4 NBA teams that are one move away from title contention
Every year, teams evolve. Younger teams have found either newborn success or hit rocky bottoms early into their careers. Several of those teams are making strides amongst the league's best, but not as contenders, but as pretenders.
A few of those teams need one particular piece or player to accelerate winning. Teams such as Orlando, Houston, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio are squads well on their way toward the top of their conferences (Oklahoma City is already there).
Below, we discuss each team's roster, cap flexibility, and assets as they pave the way for their futures. Will these teams seize the opportunity to acquire big-name players, or will their organizations fail to improve their rosters? Will teams improve their rosters to compete aggressively, or will they take the progression.
4) San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs...one move away? As crazy as it sounds, the Spurs already have a franchise-caliber player in Rookie of the Year winner Victor Wembanyama, who is coming off one of the best rookie seasons in league history. An established big, Wembanyama's running mate, Devin Vassell, continues to be a core piece for San Antonio. After adding Stephon Castle, Juan Nuñez, and acquiring picks for Rob Dillingham's draft rights, the Spurs have a deep core intact for the foreseeable future.
With Vassell locked in long-term as a 20-point-per-game scorer, San Antonio has multiple key, franchise players as they hope to reinvigorate their franchise and return to the playoffs. The Spurs elected to draft Stephon Castle with the fourth overall pick and Juan Nunez with the 36th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Additionally, the Spurs traded their eighth overall pick, Rob Dillingham, to Minnesota for multiple future draft picks. After a strong 2024 NBA draft, San Antonio
San Antonio has begun constructing their roster around Victor Wembanyama, drafting a two-way guard (Castle) and highly prolific passing guard from Spain (Nuñez) in the second round. The Spurs appear ready to build a roster around Wemby to begin competing in a deep Western Conference. San Antonio used their significant cap space this summer to add Chris Paul on a one-year, $11 million deal., with a combined $35 million in cap space driven towards Keldon Johnson and Zach Collins, the Spurs have movable contracts to bring in star power.
While San Antonio isn't the most attractive free-agent destination, the Spurs enticing a free agent like Chris Paul to play with Wembanyama and Vassell is a great start. Even if it's not star power, incremental improvement to their roster is certainly possible, by targeting other savvy veterans. Although these moves seem minor, signing those high-level role players would still improve the Spurs roster, and could shape up as moves that solidify San Antonio amongst the conference's best teams.
Although these moves seem minor, signing those high-level role players would still improve the Spurs roster, and could shape up as moves that solidify San Antonio amongst the conference's best teams.