By admin 
The San Antonio Spurs had a breakthrough year in 2025-26. After winning just 34 games and missing the playoffs in 2025, the Spurs went 62-20 this past season and had the second-best record in the Western Conference, behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder. San Antonio then went on a run to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the New York Knicks 1-4.
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But looking back, the Spurs led by double digits in all four games they lost, including blowing a Finals-record 29-point lead in Game 4. With San Antonio bringing back last year’s team and adding one year of valuable experience, many expect the Spurs to come back stronger next season and play in the Finals again.
However, former New York Knicks guard Derek Harper cautioned the Spurs against falling into the same trap his former team did.
“Don’t think because you got there this past summer that you automatically get back,”
“That’s the hardest thing to do, is miss it. That happened to us in ’95. We got there, and I can hear it as plain as day. Somebody saying, ‘Oh, next year when we get back.’ We never got back.”
The 1994 Knicks never made it back to the Finals
Back when Michael Jordan retired from baseball, the Knicks took advantage and won the Eastern Conference Finals, advancing to the championship series. Unfortunately, the Knicks lost to Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets in seven games.
Because the Knicks were that close, many expected them to get back to the Finals the following year. However, they were ambushed by the ambitious Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the playoffs. The next time the Knicks got back to the Finals was in 1999, when Jordan retired again. But at that point, it was a different team already, with Harper playing for another team by then.
“You can’t take any of this stuff for granted,” he added. “You don’t know about injuries. You don’t know about trade situations because you were not as good as last year. There’s just so much that goes into winning. I was thinking about our ball boys. I thought about those guys. I thought about coach Riley and I sitting at the locker room after losing against the Rockets in Game 7, in the shower, shower running. It just takes everything to fall in place for you to win a championship.”
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Rivers compared the Spurs to the 2012 Thunder
Interestingly, Harper’s former teammate on the 1994 Knicks squad, Doc Rivers, also expressed his worries about the Spurs last month. According to the recently inducted Hall of Famer, there is no guarantee that the Spurs will be back in the Finals next season, no matter how close they were to winning it all this past season. He likened them to the 2012 OKC Thunder team that reached the NBA Finals, but never reached the same heights again.
“Their future is bright, but there is no guarantee,” said Rivers. “I always go back to when Miami beat Oklahoma City. I remember Mike Breen saying on air, ‘Well, Oklahoma City will be here every year.’ It took them 20 years to get back. You just can’t; you can never take things for granted with trades, free agency, injuries.”
There’s no question Victor Wembanyama will be even better next season. So will guys like Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. The Spurs will no doubt be one of the favorites to win it all next season. But they can’t rest on their laurels because everybody else has gotten better, and the proverbial target will be on their backs.
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This story was originally published August 18, 2026 at 5:34 AM.