Oh, how quickly empires fall.
For the longest time, I would try to carve out an opening in my writing schedule for at least one or two games against the Bucks. Even when the Spurs were at their worst, I wanted to see what would happen.
The Bucks served as a measuring stick for me; a team with the right mixture of talent and discipline to tell me exactly what the Spurs were (and were not) capable of.
I envied their draft heist in the form of Giannis Antetokounmpo, feeling less than optimistic about San
Antonio’s chances of lucking into another franchise-altering big man. I admired the aggression and shrewdness of the acquisition that had given them arguably the NBA best all-around guard in Jrue Holiday, a player I’d wanted on the Spurs since his days at UCLA.
I watched them play basketball in the vaguely Spurs-ish way that Popovich protege Mike Budenholzer employed at every stop along the way, and tried to summon visions of a Spurs team that would play that well (or better) in the near future.
I cannot blame my imagination for having failed me at the time. It was a grim time to be writing about the Spurs. I saw franchise favorites flipped for assets. I witnessed losing streaks never before seen in the history of the franchise. I cannot say that it was fun, though I did my best to make it so.
And yet, I was always watching for that moment when things might fall into place. Those moments that the Spurs would exceed the sum of their very humble parts, and take advantage of the strangeness of a long NBA season.
The one thing about losing seasons is that you’re surprised by certain victories in a way that you can’t be about a contender. I clung to those minor miracles, and they got me through it.
Now the returns to Milwaukee remind me of the fickleness of fortune.
We like to believe that the NBA is a meritocracy, but sometimes it’s just not. Seemingly abandoned by the fates of a previous half-decade, Bucks management is paralyzed regarding what feels like an unresolvable exit trajectory for their aging superstar player, torn between the promising mystique of future assets and the hope that one stroke of luck can restore them to their former glory — a consolation devoutly to be wished.
The Spurs, on the other hand, are at full health, and so deep that it hardly seems to matter. They’ve found their rhythm, sitting just shy of a net rating identical to that of the 2014 roster, and are led by an ascendant wunderkind intent on bringing home as much hardware as humanly possible.
Wemby’s averaging 26/11/3.5/3.5/1.5 on 51% shooting over the last 10 games. The Spurs are 1st in Offensive Rating and Net Rating, and 2nd in scoring over that same stretch.
They’re 1st in rebounding and effective field goal percentage, and 2nd in three pointers made and assist-to-turnover ratio. They don’t make mistakes. They rain hellfire.
The scales between these two teams have definitively flipped. The Bucks will be without 3 of their top 5 scorers (and possibly 5 out of their top 6), leaving a Giannis-shaped hole in the roster of a team that is almost certainly trying to better their draft odds.
And yet, I think back to those years in the wastelands, and I know I’ll be looking for that same flicker from Milwaukee. The NBA season is lengthy and bizarre, and the Spurs are on an extended win streak.
What a fantastic time for the basketball gods to indulge their prevailing senses of humor.
One of the long-standing tests of the grecian deities was that of hubris. This Spurs team has almost everything they need to bring home another championship. But do they have the humility?
The memory of struggle has allowed me to enjoy this season more than so many of the successful ones I’ve been witness to, and I’m looking forward to an easy win as much as anyone, but I’m also hoping for the kind of graciousness that those who’ve experienced attrition are best suited to deliver.
That, and a whole lot of dunks. (I have an Icarus tattoo. It reminds me that my capacity for humility is limited.)
San Antonio Spurs (55-18) vs Milwaukee Bucks (29-43)
March 28th, 2026 | 2:00 PM CT
Watch: NBA on Amazon Prime/FanDuel Southwest| Listen: WOAI (1200 AM)
Spurs Injuries: None
Bucks Injuries: Myles Turner: Day-to-Day (Calf), Bobby Portis: Day-to-Day (Wrist), Kyle Kuzma: Out (Achilles Tightness), Gary Harris: Out (Groin), Kevin Porter Jr: Out (Knee), Giannis Antetokounmpo: Out (PRitis)
