The Spurs Are Entering the Playoffs Inexperienced. How Much Does It Actually Matter?

Recent history, and conventional wisdom, says Victor Wembanyama & Co. need more time to form a championship squad.

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama stands on the court during a break in the action against the Golden State Warriors. | Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

There are two very simple things to know about this year’s Spurs team.

First, they are very, very young. Victor Wembanyama, the anchor of the team on both ends of the floor, is in just the third year of his NBA career and well ahead of schedule. Guard De’Aaron Fox, playing in his ninth NBA season, is the elder statesman of the team’s core, with Stephon Castle (two seasons), Julian Champagnie (four seasons), and Devin Vassell (six seasons) filling out the rest of the starting five.

The second thing to know about the Spurs is that they are very, very good at basketball. San Antonio’s 59 wins trail only the Thunder in the entirety of the NBA, putting them nine games clear of the No. 3 team in the West. Beyond just their win total, the Spurs’ résumé is unmatched, highlighted by a 4–1 record against the Thunder. Just one other team in the NBA, the Timberwolves, have beaten the Thunder twice this year.

A third thing about the Spurs, if you’ll allow it—they seem self-aware, at least of the two aforementioned facts. Speaking with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt after a win on Wednesday night, Wembanyama did not shy away from the fact that his team was in uncharted territory.

"We don't have experience, right? Screw it,” Wembanyama said. “That’s all we got. We’re not going to play any different way just because it is this way. We’re still going to play 100% and got try to win this championship. Screw it.”

"We don't have experience, right? Screw it."

Wemby talks to @notthefakeSVP about the only thing the Spurs are lacking heading into the playoffs 👀 pic.twitter.com/6Vjb9MrF6V

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 2, 2026

For Wembanyama, that is the correct answer. It’s not like the Spurs are going to play any differently than how they are now in the postseason just because of a lack of experience. At the same time, the playoffs also can demand that teams play a different type of basketball, and experience, historically, has been helpful.

The idea that a team can’t win in the playoffs without having been there before feels like an idiom of a bygone era, or at the very least a truism so oft repeated that the actual fact behind the sentiment can be questioned, similar to “defense wins championships.”

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But whether you are a believer in teams needing postseason experience or roll your eyes at the assumption, there is no escaping that this Spurs team is not just young, but also new to postseason basketball in a way rarely seen in the NBA.

Comparing the Spurs’ playoff experience to recent champions

Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace, Kenrich Williams, Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander receiving their title rings. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

As someone who enjoys spending too much time staring at Basketball Reference, I went back through the past 10 NBA champions, mapping out the combined experience their five core players took into their title run in terms of NBA seasons, playoff appearances and total playoff minutes, and compared them to the starting five that the Spurs are set to put on the floor this spring. The results demonstrate just how green this Spurs roster is compared to recent champions.

Year	Team	NBA seasons	Playoff appearances	Playoff minutes
2026	San Antonio Spurs	24	1	270
2025	Oklahoma City Thunder	25	10	2,708
2024	Boston Celtics	54	37	16,808
2023	Denver Nuggets	37	14	4,502
2022	Golden State Warriors	47	24	14,165
2021	Milwaukee Bucks	51	22	7,131
2020	Los Angeles Lakers	46	31	13,928
2019	Toronto Raptors	45	28	10,028
2018	Golden State Warriors	47	32	15,905
2017	Golden State Warriors	42	27	13,800
2016	Cleveland Cavaliers	43	21	10,770

Of the starting five that the Spurs will trot out in their first-round series just two weeks from now, Fox is the only one who has played in the postseason before, recording 270 playoff minutes with the Kings in a first-round series against the Warriors that ended in a Game 7 loss. Assuming the Spurs are able to reach the second round of the playoffs, their entire starting five will be in uncharted territory.

Looking back at the last 10 NBA champions, it is not surprising to find that one thing they all shared was a healthy dose of playoff experience. Recent champions like the Celtics, Warriors, Bucks and Lakers were stacked with veterans, and while their cores sometimes had one or two players new to the postseason, they were buoyed by the likes of LeBron James, Al Horford and Steph Curry, who have all played more than a full regular season’s worth of playoff basketball.

When the Thunder won the title last year, they were still extremely green compared to the rest of the champions on this list. But that young Thunder core had one playoff run together under their belts from the season before, meaning that all five of their starters had at least seen some postseason basketball, with a combined 10 playoff appearances between them. Again, just one Spurs starter, Fox, has played in the playoffs before, and it was for a single series. The Spurs’ lack of playoff experience looks extreme even when compared to a Thunder side that was already pushing boundaries.

It’s possible then that the more fitting comparison for the 2026 Spurs is not the ‘25 Thunder, but the ‘24 Thunder. Two years ago, Oklahoma City’s fresh-faced core marched into the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the West. Having been knocked out in the play-in round the previous year, they had little experience with postseason basketball.

Year	Team	NBA seasons	Playoff appearances	Playoff minutes
2026	San Antonio Spurs	24	One	270
2024	Oklahoma City Thunder	17	Three	627

In the first round, the Thunder swept the Pelicans and looked plenty like title contenders, but in the second round, they ran into the buzzsaw of Luka Dončić and the Mavericks, and were bounced in six games.

Where will the Spurs land?

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama holds onto the ball against the Golden State Warriors. | Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

Can this year’s Spurs squad buck the trend and skip right to the title-chasing? Or are they destined to take their lumps in the playoffs this year, learn some lessons, and come back stronger next season?

Intuition says that something will catch up with San Antonio. There is so much talent in the West—a first-round playoff series against the Clippers or Warriors is no sure thing depending on the respective health of each team, and the guantlet only gets tougher deeper into the bracket. If the Spurs face an early exit, there’s no reason to think they can’t follow the exact playbook the Thunder did and march to a title with authority next season.

But if any team can buck the trend, it sure feels like this Spurs team. Sure, they haven’t played under the bright lights of the playoffs, but Wemby is very clearly unafraid of the moment, and his teammates both rally around and play through him.

Sure, they don’t have playoff experience yet. But if they can survive the first round, then hey, that’s some experience right?

Like Wemby said, “Screw it. That’s all we got.”

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