A Love Letter From the New Editor: Tom Petrini Joins Spurs on SI

Dear reader,

My name is Tom Petrini, and I'm thrilled and deeply humbled to write to you as the new editor here at San Antonio Spurs on SI.

Accepting this position is one of the greatest honors of my professional career, right up there with asking questions to and occasionally getting flamed by Gregg Popovich. I don’t intend on talking about myself too much here, but I wanted to properly introduce myself, let fans know what they can expect from this outlet moving forward and reflect on how and why I got here.

On the surface level, the answer is that I dedicated a decade of time, energy and creative juice to honing my craft and doing the work to cover Spurs basketball at the highest level. On a spiritual level, the answer is love. I’m here because of a firehose of love from my family, my friends, my colleagues and bosses and peers and idols and strangers. I am here because I love Spurs basketball, and because you love Spurs basketball, and I love sharing that love with all of you.

When I called my mom to tell her about this opportunity, I asked if she remembered the Sports Illustrated for Kids magazines that she fed me growing up. What a beautiful thing for a scrawny, sports-obsessed nerd to absorb at a formative age.

When I put those Rec Specs on my face and flags around my waist, you did not want to be the quarterback after “Three Mississippi.” Still, the only physical trait I shared with Michael Strahan at the time was that you could drive a minivan between my front teeth. I knew from an early age that I probably wasn’t gonna break his sack record, and I was more dangerous in math competitions and debate tournaments.

But I loved sports, and talking about sports, and learning about sports so I could talk about sports better. Talking about sports was my first real dream job outside of like, fighter pilot or dinosaur. When I was about 10 years old, I asked my dad why nobody on SportsCenter "tawked" like us, and he said that to get a national TV job, you need to have a non-regional dialect so people aren’t distracted by how you sound like you’re from Long Island.

Right then, I started beating the Long Island out of my accent; it only resurfaces now when I’m back home, talking to someone from back home, or if I’ve had a few beers, or if I’m saying ‘Lawn guy land’.

That kid was obsessed with SI for Kids, and in recent days I’ve reflected on why. I would go straight to the perforated trading cards and posters, my favorite of which I still remember: Dontrelle Willis of the Marlins contorting his insane muscles into the most vicious pitch windup my young eyes had seen. He looked so powerful, so ridiculously cool.

July 10, 2011; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Cincinnati Reds pitcher Dontrelle Willis (50) throws a pitch during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. The Brewers defeated the Reds 4-3. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

I would go to the "What’s the Call?" section where I’d test my knowledge on obscure rules. Then I’d curl up and read about my favorite athletes, and about athletes who I quickly grew to appreciate more after the writers introduced me to them. I was fascinated by all of them, including the writers.

The real reason I loved that magazine so much was that it entertained me as it educated me. I learned about so many different sports, about the human beings playing them and about covering the games and the human beings who play with curiosity and respect. I was always learning, and I was never made to feel dumb for not already knowing the thing I had just learned.

It didn’t fully click until I started thinking about it now, but that is the exact thing I’ve wanted anybody to feel after reading something I’ve written. I want to connect people to the stories that matter about their favorite team and favorite players, to the community of people across the world who love that stuff just as much as they do.

That brings me to how I came to care about Spurs basketball in the first place. Again, the answer is love.

Like most people, I love sports because I loved watching them with friends and family, most of all my dad. Paul Petrini was a Mets fan who grew up in Flushing. He sat behind the foul pole when they won the pennant in '69, and heard that Beatles concert from his apartment roof. He loved me so much that he let me be a Yankee fan instead. He took me to the Bronx as many times as he could, and eventually became a Yankee fan himself because he loved watching with me.

Tom Petrini and his father, Paul, in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. | Tom Petrini

When Derek Jeter slapped the ball past the first baseman in his last at-bat at Yankee Stadium, I called my dad before the winning run crossed the plate. If it was fictional the author would be criticized for laying it on too thick, but the great thing about nonfiction is that real people do it in real life.

The Captain lifted his arms, his teammates embraced him as the crowd went ballistic, and the moment moved me to uncontrollable tears, both sweet and bitter. It was the storybook my dad shared with me for my whole life, and when we got to the last page together, he cried too.

I had no way of knowing it at the time, but this was one of the last memories we would share before he passed. I was 19, and his loss busted me up in ways I’m still healing from. But it also put into very clear focus that life is short, and you have to do stuff that you love and spend time with people you care about.

I leaned on my friends, and one of those friends is the most beautiful person I’ve met, inside and out. She has that special kind of soul that seeks out the people who need love the most and gives them all they need and more.

She grew up in San Antonio and converted me to the Church of Spurs Basketball without much convincing. She watched as many games as possible with me, both to give me a happy distraction and, more importantly, to make sure I was doing alright and could talk about it if I wasn’t.

One night, we were watching the game together, and when the game ended a movie came on. It was "Frequency," which is about time-traveling firefighters, a son grappling with the loss of his father and the New York Mets.

It was late, but we watched the whole movie together, and she asked about baseball and my dad. We laughed a lot, and I held back tears because I had a huge crush on her. At the end of the movie, the dam broke and I cried as hard as I had ever let myself, and I wasn’t embarrassed at all. I was just so glad she was there, and in that moment I knew she was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life making happy.

Since then, we’ve built a little family together with a pair of goofy, sweet, smushy-faced dogs. She has patiently supported me at every step in this journey, and I love her so much.

As my fixation on the Spurs grew, it became an outlet for me. I found my community on Twitter. Goofy photoshops that I sent Jeff Garcia led to a conversation that led to writing for him and Mike De Leon at Project Spurs. Mike lost his dad when he was 19, too, and he taught me just as much about navigating grief as he taught me about covering sports.

The work I did with Project Spurs led to four amazing years at KENS5 in San Antonio. That newsroom and the people in it taught me so much about journalism, and how to do it the right way. I got to live my dream and cover the team up close with a credential, but the hard-news tragedies that made up the rest of my job took a toll on my mental health.

I left the job early in 2024 and wasn’t sure what was next other than spending more time with my family. I started helping a friend with his coffee shop, and then some Twitter friends turned into real friends over pickup games and Spurs talk. The Silver and Black Coffee Hour was born — I do that show every week with my buddies Aaron Blackerby and Zach Montana. That show continues, and you’ll see some of that work on this site, as well.

As I look back on the path that brought me here, I think more and more of Mike De Leon. He dedicated his life to helping other people learn and pursue this dream, and none of us knew just how many people he impacted until we all met at his memorial a few years ago.

I never had to think about what I would do when I got to a place where I could pay forward what he did for us, because he showed me the blueprint.

Matt Guzman is an incredibly talented young writer who is much more polished than I was at his age. I’m excited to work with him, teach him what I know and learn the ropes around here from him. I’ve been fortunate to make several insightful friends in this world over the years, and I want to give them all a space to put their work and help make Spurs on SI the best place on the internet for Spurs coverage.

Right now is the most fun Spurs basketball has been since before Zaza Pachulia stepped into Kawhi’s landing zone. Victor Wembanyama is a spectacle and a force in his third season, and as he continues to grow the fanbase’s hopes, collectively rest somewhere between “he’ll bring multiple championships back to San Antonio” and “y’all need to wrap up that Jordan vs. LeBron GOAT debate.”

The Spurs brought in De’Aaron Fox and made other moves that said, “We’re ready to go back to being perennial playoff contenders.” If the first month of the season is any indication, they are serious about it.

San Antonio is 11-4 despite a number of injuries to key players, including Wembanyama and Fox for stretches, as well a key offseason acquisition in Luke Kornet and a star rookie in Dylan Harper. Wembanyama is still figuring out how to achieve his true, ridiculous potential, and his teammates are still learning how to maximize him; now they're learning how to play without him.

Fans have filled every seat in the Frost Bank Center for every home game so far, and the Jackals supporter section — championed by the Frenchman — has been loud, rowdy, noticeable and exceptionally fun.

There’s a buzz in Spurs world, the same way there’s a buzz in that arena in between when the 7-foot-4 alien drops his defender and steps back for 3 and when the ball rips through the net. It's a buzz of excitement for what we've already seen, and from the payoff we can't help but anticipate.

San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) with teammates forwards Julian Champagnie (30) and Kelly Olynyk (8) during a — Oct 30, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts after losing the ball out of bounds during the second half against the Miami Heat at Frost Bank Center. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

It’s always fun to cover a team that’s winning, especially when there’s seemingly endless potential for more winning. I’m not ashamed to admit that even when this team was not giving any realistic hope for anything but player development and ping pong balls, I loved every minute of it and I hoped anyway.

I hoped that Boban Marjanović would be like Shaq, but taller. I hated the Luka Šamanić pick, and then I got fully on board with him becoming the Croatian Kevin Durant. I thought Lonnie Walker IV was the second coming of Vince Carter.

I’ll never hold it against anyone who is just now showing up or coming back to Spurs basketball for the Wemby show. The more the merrier. But I will always have a special place in my heart for the folks who were locked in as this storied franchise went through their roughest patch since before David Robinson came ashore. I write for those fans, and I write about those people.

David Jones Garcia is a two-way player for the Spurs, splitting his time between the G League and Big Team. The Dominican guard lit up Summer League and proved himself as a shifty scorer and impactful defender, earning lucrative offers to go overseas and play more of a starring role.

He turned them all down for the chance to be the fifth point guard on San Antonio’s depth chart, in part because of a promise he made to his father before he passed in 2023. The same way Tim Duncan told his parents he would finish college, Jones Garcia told his dad he would play in the NBA.

He fulfilled that promise in earnest on Thursday night against the Hawks. The point guard was coming off a 31-point, eight-rebound, five-assist outing for the Austin Spurs, and a few nights later, San Antonio had its depth tested with Stephon Castle joining Harper, Jordan McLaughlin, and Wembanyama on the injury report. Jones Garcia played seven minutes in relief against the Grizzlies, and Spurs coach Mitch Johnson praised his effort and impact.

“His box score will not be on SportsCenter," he said, "but the guy played seven minutes and he played the brand of basketball we want to play.”

When De’Aaron Fox went to the bench in the next game, it was Jones Garcia who took the fiesta-colored floor with a tattoo honoring his father on his arm.

He attacked the rim with confidence and started dropping dimes to his teammates. Once in the flow, he powered in for a tough bucket through his defender. Feeling it a little bit, he skedaddled backward to the 3-point arc, and created just enough space to swish it over his man.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Spurs were clinging to a two-point lead when Jones Garcia checked in for Fox. He skied an outlet pass down the court for an easy bucket, then poked away a pair of steals leading to a pair of dunks for his teammates. When Fox came back in, the Spurs led by 12 and Jones Garcia stayed on the court. The very next play, the rookie ripped another steal and punctuated his performance with a dunk of his own.

He played 19 minutes, more than his entire NBA career combined to that point. He finished with 12 points, five assists, four rebounds, three steals and a block, and the Spurs won his minutes by 25 points on a night where they beat a very good team 135-126. His teammates embraced him, the crowd ate it up as he addressed them in Spanish, and at the podium he reflected on the emotions of the moment.

“I'm proud of myself," he said. "I hope my dad is proud of me as well."

That quote is powerful enough to move anyone, but for anyone who has lost a parent, it resonates like a tuning fork. I know what it is to accomplish something in memory of someone you can no longer celebrate the accomplishment with. It's 11 years later and this week I picked up the phone to call him.

Nov 20, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs point guard David Jones Garcia (25) celebrates with forward Keldon Johnson (3) after a win over the Atlanta Hawks at Frost Bank Center. | Reginald Thomas II/San Antonio Spurs

Zach was in the room and tweeted Jones Garcia's quote out from the show’s account, and within minutes my phone began to buzz constantly with notifications that brought to the top of the screen those words that I feel deep in my soul.

Clearly it resonated with more people than just me, and I welled up.

It may sound crazy, but my dad reaches out to me through the universe in those times when I miss him and need to hear from him most. I’ve been thinking about him since I got this opportunity, and wishing I could share it with him, and wondering how I can write about him in a way that’s less about me and more about Spurs basketball, and why I care about it, and how I want to cover it.

Right while I was thinking about all of that, the universe showed me a young man living his dream at the highest level with the Spurs, and my phone rang a thousand times in a row with his message:

“I’m proud of myself, and I hope my dad is proud of me as well.”