What Suns Can Really Learn From Spurs' Playoff Success

The Phoenix Suns have some ground to make up.

May 26, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts after a play during the third quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder in game five of the western conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns are watching these NBA playoffs closely.

The Suns, after making the postseason in surprising fashion this past season, are now tasked with finding ways to improve within the margins to potentially take the next step in 2026-27.

What that exactly looks like remains to be seen. The Suns are pretty limited when it comes to future draft ammo and seem to be focused on retaining their own key players hitting free agency this summer as opposed to eying a big move.

However, Phoenix is one of a handful of teams who should be paying attention to how San Antonio constructed their roster — according to ESPN.

"Spurs general manager Brian Wright has been quietly building a versatile group of players who operate similarly and perhaps have some overlap, but he seemed to eschew conventional thinking in some ways," wrote Vincent Goodwill.

"... Yes, lottery luck hit with Wembanyama, but it's what the Spurs' front office did after that that has them two wins from the NBA Finals."

Victor Wembanyama's presence on the floor is something that changes so many things for San Antonio, as he holds all-time potential if he can stay healthy and indeed lives up to his "alien" nickname.

Not to take credit away from others in San Antonio, but the Spurs clearly wouldn't be the team they are without Wemby. Unless the Suns have identified the next prototype of Wembanyama, that's a bit tough to emulate.

The versatile, "positionless" basketball mantra is something that's slowly becoming normalized throughout the NBA — though finding players to contribute who can do a variety of things is much easier said than done.

Also, it does feel like NBA teams would prefer to have a player who is very good at one or two things as opposed to a lesser-talented player who is capable of filling more roles. But of course that comes down to roster construction, and in fairness to Suns general manager Brian Gregory, that will be awfully tough to swing given the current state of the organization.

So what can the Suns learn from San Antonio?

The Spurs have a fine blend of scoring and premier defense on top of an undeniable superstar, which is always a recipe for success come playoff time. That's a recipe the Suns have tried to cook with Devin Booker and co. under new head coach Jordan Ott, and it will be interesting to see what can come of this offseason.

For what it's worth, many thought Phoenix was going to be a tough matchup for San Antonio in the postseason after drawing their regular season series 2-2. One of those losses was by one point on a game-winning shot from Wembanyama late in the regular season as well.

Are the Suns far behind the Spurs? When watching their series against OKC, it sure feels like it. However, Phoenix clearly can't emulate what San Antonio did.