State of the Spurs: Breaking Down San Antonio's Roster After Day 1 of NBA Draft

SAN ANTONIO — Eleven days ago, the San Antonio Spurs played the final game of their 2025-26 season. Tuesday night, they welcomed the freshest faces of 2026-27.

With the No. 20 pick of the 2026 NBA Draft, the Spurs selected Kentucky center Jayden Quaintance before completing a trade with the Denver Nuggets to move up and select UConn's Tarris Reed Jr. with pick No. 26, adding both rookies to their roster for next season.

Quaintance suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee in February 2025, which cut short his tenure at Arizona State. The center transferred after his surgery and recovered in time to make his Kentucky debut on Dec. 20, but was ruled out again four games later and missed the remainder of his second collegiate season before declaring for the draft.

The rookie admitted to reporters on Zoom after his selection that he still has another surgery planned to "clean up" his meniscus. His recovery timeline remains unclear.

"Still a little pain," Quaintance said, "(but) feeling better. Pushing toward improving."

Jan 7, 2026; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Jayden Quaintance (21) reacts during the second half against the Missouri Tigers at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

In his limited run time last season, Quaintance averaged five points and five rebounds on 57 percent shooting from the field. During his freshman year with the Sun Devils, he averaged 2.6 blocks and 1.1 steals and earned a spot on the Big 12 All-Defensive team.

After spending two seasons with the Michigan Wolverines, Reed transferred to join a UConn squad fresh off its 2024 title run. In his second and last season with the Huskies, Reed averaged 14.7 points, nine rebounds and two blocks on 60 percent shooting from the field.

Reed, like his counterpart, stands 6-foot-10 with a wingspan over 7 feet. Both players weigh in at 250 pounds or heavier, giving the Spurs substantial size in units without Wembanyama or Luke Kornet. The pair of rookies now join a talented frontcourt behind the Frenchman.

"I'm excited to get to work," Reed said. "Just being able to use my strength, my size, my physicality to help this team as much as I can ... (and) keep the momentum going."

With Quaintance and Reed joining the fold, the Spurs now have a clearer idea of what their roster will look like next season in pursuit of another NBA Finals berth.

Ahead of Day 2 of the NBA Draft, here is Spurs On SI's "State of the Spurs":

The Guarantees

San Antonio has 10* players currently on guaranteed contracts for 2026-27, including Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle, whose team options were exercised back in October after the conclusion of the team's five-game preseason slate.

The Spurs' full list of guaranteed players for next season are as follows:

Victor Wembanyama (Year 4)
Dylan Harper (Year 2)
Stephon Castle (Year 3)
De'Aaron Fox (Year 10)
Devin Vassell (Year 7)
Keldon Johnson (Year 8)
Luke Kornet (Year 11)
Carter Bryant (Year 2)
Jayden Quaintance (Year 1)
Tarris Reed Jr. (Year 1)

*Jayden Quaintance and Tarris Reed Jr. have not yet signed rookie scale contracts.

With the addition of Quaintance and Reed, the Spurs now have four open regular season roster spots and three two-way contracts. Up until the day before the regular season, three additional spots are available to be filled by players on training camp/10-day contracts.

Quaintance's contract, using rookie scale figures from 2025-26, will fall around $2.7 million in Year 1, and will include team options for Years 3 and 4. Reed's will begin at $2.4 million.

Perhaps the only other true guarantee? Mitch Johnson will return for his second season as the Spurs' full-time head coach after officially taking over for Gregg Popovich in 2025.

The Expected

Most of Johnson's staff, beyond Sean Sweeney, is expected to return for the 2026-27 season. After Sweeney departed for the Orlando Magic, the Spurs will need to find a replacement before training camp, but no suitors have emerged as frontrunners.

Of San Antonio's eight impending free agents, a few of them are primed to return in similar capacities. David Jones Garcia, after undergoing successful right ankle surgery in January, has returned to on-court activities in anticipation of a 2026-27 return.

Should the Spurs maintain their current interest in Jones Garcia, the point guard would be a strong candidate to return on a two-way contract in his second NBA season. Harrison Ingram, who the Spurs selected in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft, is likely to experience the same treatment in his final season of two-way eligibility.

Here’s #Spurs two-way guard David Jones Garcia getting shots up, five months removed from right ankle surgery. #PorVida pic.twitter.com/VdaW0TmjvT
— Matt Guzman (@mattgzman) June 8, 2026

The Spurs also have a pair of expected financial moves regarding Wembanyama and Julian Champagnie. Their 7-foot-4 big man is due for the first new contract of his career.

Wembanyama's expected extension can be worth up to $301 million over five years with a starting salary around $50 million beginning in 2027-28. The Frenchman will need to be named to one of the league's three All-NBA teams, win Defensive Player of the Year or MVP.

When the deal is announced, it will be a rookie max extension worth around $251 million (25 percent of the salary cap) over five years. If Wembanyama hits his escalators, it’ll increase to the higher figure (30 percent of the salary cap). He can sign the deal as early as July 1.

Champagnie, who remains the only player on the roster with an outstanding team option worth $3 million next season, is also primed for a new deal. The Spurs have until June 29 to opt in or out of Champagnie's contract. The latter — a likely move — would open up a period of renegotiation to keep their best shooter at home for several more years.

The Unknown

The rest of the Spurs' impending free agents are listed below:

Harrison Barnes (Year 15)
Kelly Olynyk (Year 14)
Jordan McLaughlin (Year 8)
Lindy Waters III (Year 6)
Mason Plumlee (Year 14)
Bismack Biyombo (Year 16)

Outside of Barnes, who still averaged close to nine minutes per game in the playoffs after Champagnie entered the starting lineup at the end of January, the bottom five Spurs free agents hardly logged time with the club once the postseason began.

San Antonio has maintained its positive stance on both Biyombo, who it sees as a strong locker room presence, and McLaughlin, who provided reliable injury insurance behind Fox, Harper and Castle. The rest of the list may not return after a short stint in South Texas.

Free agent targets will likely fill holes in the frontcourt, ideally to complement Wembanyama. Veterans like John Collins, Rui Hachimura and even Isaiah Stewart could draw interest from around the league, but the Spurs will have as strong a pitch as any, especially for bigs.

The Spurs are currently operating with a payroll of around $157 million which falls close to $10 million below the projected salary cap of $165 million for the 2026-27 season. If they sign players using their non-taxpayer mid-level exception (9.12 percent of the salary cap, or around $15 million), they'll be hard capped at the first apron, projected at $209 million.

*Keep note, the above payroll does not include Champagnie's likely extension.

What's Next?

After the NBA Draft, in which they still own two second-round picks (No. 44 from MIA via IND and No. 42 from MIA via IND), the Spurs will name a head coach for the Summer Spurs, who will compete first in the eighth annual California Classic at Chase Center in San Francisco and then NBA 2K27 Summer League at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

From there, the lull of the offseason will commence until the end of September, when Media Day and training camp begin. At that point, the Spurs will have a chance to defend their title as the Western Conference champions and chase their sixth Larry O'Brien trophy.

Before then, they'll finalize a regular season roster with new faces and several familiar ones and prepare to play another 100-plus games next season.

"I've always said the guys on the court will dictate how fast we go," Wright said. "They drove really fast this year ... and we're proud of that. It was obviously a great season. A lot to learn and grow from. I know the guys will take that into the summer and continue to improve."

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