Tight-knit Spurs look to the past while working toward their own golden future

SAN ANTONIO — Julian Champagnie felt something click in Las Vegas. As he and his San Antonio Spurs teammates converged on NBA Summer League last year to watch their future teammates Dylan Harper, Carter Bryant and David-Jones Garcia make their debuts, he picked up on a vibe.

The connection just felt right. The group knew this season was going to be a step forward. Victor Wembanyama was being cleared to return to basketball activity following a blood clot that had ended his season in February. De’Aaron Fox was ready to go as well after a wrist injury. Steph Castle was primed for a step forward after winning Rookie of the Year. Everybody was just ready to see what the next stage of their careers would look like.

And they were ready to do it together. From underwater workouts to breaking bread, they found all sorts of things to do as a group before the season ever started. It took a while for the product on the court to truly click, but the vibes were locked in long before that.

“The group loves each other. It’s genuine. We’re a tight-knit group,” Keldon Johnson said. “I feel like when you see one of us, you see all of us. That’s how it’s been from the start. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but it’s been just like it clicked from day one.”

Few players have benefited as much as Champagnie. A former two-way player who barely held onto a job in the league, he entered the season as the team’s sharpshooter off the bench. Eventually, he was moved into the starting lineup, replacing veteran and 2016 champion Harrison Barnes in January. Both players handled it with grace; the team took off and has been elite ever since, culminating in an appearance in the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks beginning Wednesday night.

“The team has done a really good job of keeping us together, having us do things in Summer League, where it’s team dinner, team activities. You’ve seen the video of Vic in the pool in the summertime. We all went,” Champagnie said. “Keeping ourselves connected and combined. We’ve been doing that since June, July last year. That’s why you come to the locker room, you see us on the court in June this year, it looks like that. It’s credit to that. We’ve been doing that for quite a while now.”

They could tell, watching Wembanyama’s offseason workouts, that they were all on board for something special. He was about to charge ahead and disrupt the league, and they were the chosen few there to support it.

It’s a lot easier to put aside your own goals in support of the next great thing, knowing that the rising tide will lift all ships. That’s what happened, with Champagnie breaking the franchise 3-point record, Fox returning to the All-Star game and Johnson winning Sixth Man of the Year.

“There’s a point where you look in the mirror and you want to be a part of something special or you want to chase personal goals,” Johnson said. “Being here and being throughout this season and winning has been an ultimate reward. It just shows that everything was worth it.”

Now they are approaching a place ruled by their Spurs forefathers. It’s no longer easy to say “this is the beginning of a dynasty” — just ask the Oklahoma City Thunder. There hasn’t been a repeat champion since Kevin Durant teamed up with Steph Curry with the Golden State Warriors last decade.

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But, the Spurs have a chance if they can start now. Robert Horry, who won championships in 2005 and 2007 with the Spurs, sees an attitude in this year’s team that reminds him of back then.

“There’s levels to this because you look at the good teams, when they step on the court, they have an attitude that they’re the best,” Horry told The Athletic. “They have an attitude like, ‘Oh, we going to win this game.’ And some people say it’s cockiness, but I call it confidence and it’s OK to be cocky and confident in sports because that’s what the best players are.”

Part of that comes from some of those Spurs of old who are still lurking in the halls. Longtime coach Gregg Popovich has become significantly more present with the team in his “El Jefe” role, which has ranged from greeting the team at the airport to calling players after games to give them feedback.

“I saw Pop right away when we landed,” Wembanyama said. “The emotion was really something I haven’t felt in a while. I don’t even know since when.”

Horry sees it as Popovich’s new way of just trying to stay in the mix and put his heart into the team.

“This city is him and he is this city,” Horry said. “And I think, for me, that’s his way of just being involved and having the opportunity to still put his thumbprint on the game.”

Popovich even marched into the locker room and gave the team a speech that helped it turn the conference finals around after its Game 3 loss at home. Most importantly, he has been a mentor to his successor at head coach, Mitch Johnson.

“I cannot have created a better rhythm or build-out of him being a constant resource for me, but then also totally giving me the freedom and runway to try to roll this thing out in my own reflection as myself,” Johnson said. “That’s pretty valuable. To be honest, I don’t know if anyone’s ever had that opportunity that I’ve had this year. I don’t take that for granted. It’s not lost on me the impact he’s had, while also empowering me to be myself.”

The past is all around this year’s team. The Spurs often talk about showing up to practice and there’s Manu Ginobili, there’s Tim Duncan. As they try to build a long-term program that will stand the test of time, they do it under the guidance of the tentpoles of yesteryear. Legends and culture builders helping to create a new iteration of Spurs lore.

“I mean, it’s like they’re carrying us, you know?” Wembanyama said. “They’re guiding us in the right direction.”

Fox said their value doesn’t come in the form of big speeches or demonstrative acts of “back in my day.” It’s little tidbits about a box out or an extra pass. These are small edges that add up to the edge.

“You know Pop’s favorite saying when I was playing was bring a little nasty to the game,” Horry said. “You think about their guards, they all play with a little nastiness. So you got to be aggressive. You got to have the mentality that you’re not going to get, I use the word punked, or you’re just going to go out and play hard and let whatever happens, happen.”

That’s all part of what makes this team special. The whole season, the Spurs seemed like the fun upstarts who were ahead of schedule, but they’ve come to represent something so much bigger: a return to glory for a franchise that was the gold standard for decades, built around a potential GOAT.

Even though it’s a new generation, the ingredients are all still there. From Pop to CEO R.C. Buford to the Hall of Famers lingering in the building, all the mentors are in place to help a startup go to IPO in a heartbeat. Players like Wembanyama and Castle have embodied a blend of nastiness and dedication that resembles the past and shapes the future.

“I think they’ve handled it — I don’t want to say with grace, but they’ve stepped into it and they want to be a part of that,” Fox said. “You handle it with a level of respect and with a level of responsibility, knowing that when you put this jersey on that you have an expectation.”

The standard is to always go through the process. It’s being honed by a bunch of kids who can’t rent a car yet, and Fox, who is only 28 and gets half annoyed every time they call him “Unc.” He is the OG on this team. That’s how young they are.

Working through the process makes up for their lack of experience. The Spurs don’t have to know how to win an NBA Finals game so much as they have to know how the San Antonio Spurs try to win games. Don’t mistake the setting for the plot.

“I feel like winning is the most addictive thing in this league,” Johnson said. “This year is a testament to that, being able to win and contribute to us winning means more than anything that I’ve done in the past.”