3 years ago News

Spurs Preseason Schedule Released With Games Featuring Western Conference Foes in Texas

DeMar DeRozan and the Spurs begin their 2020 preseason games on December 12. (Photo via YouTube)

By Matt Couden

With the NBA Finals having just wrapped up last month, the league is preparing to return to play in December and has now released a look at their preseason schedule. It includes the San Antonio Spurs schedule which will feature the team battling Western Conference opponents next month all in the state of Texas.

San Antonio Spurs Preseason Schedule Features Thunder, Rockets

As mentioned, there will be a quick turnaround from the NBA Finals wrapping up to teams heading to training camp on December 1. For the San Antonio Spurs, they’ll get their first preseason game on Saturday, December 12 as they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in San Antonio. OKC just recently traded away their top star Chris Paul, but features a rising star in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Three days later, San Antonio gets to take on one of their Southwest Division foes in the Houston Rockets. They’ll play James Harden’s squad again for their third and final preseason game scheduled for Thursday, December 17.

Both of these games will take place in Houston, Texas, so the Spurs won’t have to travel too far. These Rockets games could be some good early matchups for the roster, depending on who plays, as Houston was amongst teams participating in the playoffs at the NBA bubble.

The San Antonio Spurs Twitter released the schedule as shown below:

Spurs Looking to Return to Playoffs After Streak was Snapped

This past season was marked by a suspended schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic which led to a hiatus for the league of several months. Eventually, after careful planning for everyone’s health and safety, the NBA chose to do a restart for the season at a bubble site in Orlando, Florida.

Only NBA teams going to the playoffs or close to qualifying were invited to play games at the bubble. There was also a first-time concept for the NBA Playoffs with a play-in game involving the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference. That team had a chance to get into the playoffs if they could defeat the No. 8 team.

The Spurs came close to getting the No. 9 seed. Ultimately it was the Memphis Grizzlies who got to play for a chance at a postseason berth. They’d fall to the Portland Trail Blazers, who claimed the No. 8 seed and went on to lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.

That made for the Spurs’ first playoff absence after 22 consecutive years of making the postseason. However, Gregg Popovich was impressed with what he saw from the team’s younger stars and their development during the bubble. With LaMarcus Aldridge sidelined, DeMar DeRozan also moved to a forward spot to allow other players an opportunity to get into the starting lineup.

Spurs’ Outlook Promising Based on Roster Moves

In the upcoming season, it appears the Spurs will have DeRozan back and should get Aldridge back after his rehab from season-ending shoulder surgery. At the time of writing this article, Patty Mills is also still part of the roster, but speculation continues regarding a trade. In addition, the team made moves to re-sign key players in free agency including big man Jakob Poeltl and Drew Eubanks.

A few players have departed. The Spurs lost Bryn Forbes to free agency as he chose to sign with the Milwaukee Bucks. In addition, it was recently reported that shooting guard Marco Belinelli has signed a three-year deal with Virtus Bologna in Italy.

San Antonio will be looking forward to the preseason games to potentially get their new rookies some time on the court, though. In the 2020 NBA Draft this past month, they chose FSU shooting guard Devin Vassell with the No. 11 pick, and Duke point guard Tre Jones at No. 41 to add more talent to a young roster. Visit our main news page for more of the latest team and player updates.