Seven different Spurs scored in double digits in a balanced offensive attack that saw the Spurs fall short to the Los Angeles Lakers. Victor Wembanyama led the team with 19 points and 8 rebounds, while
Stephon Castle and Jeremy Sochan contributed 16 points apiece. It was a hard-fought loss, but Mama said there would be games like this when your superstar is in foul trouble, the game kind of flowed a little weird, and L.A. starts a basketball game at 7 PM West Coast time/9 PM Central. Fresh off gaining an hour when Daylight Saving Time ended, it felt like a bonus to be able to enjoy a late-night Spurs romp.
WELCOME BACK, JEREMY SOCHAN! The fourth year forward (wow, four years already?!) made his season debut by immediately making a mark off the bench. Sochan, like his brethren Wembanyama, fouled out but not before putting up 16 points on an uber-efficient 6 – 7 shooting. Rocking a muted hair color palette (by his standards, anyway), the Spurs are finally slowly but surely getting back to full strength.
If you knew nothing else about Stephon Castle and you saw this clip, you’d think he was a 6th-year vet. I harp on the maturity of his game, but I mean, when your boy does a pump fake in mid air through a forest of outstretched arms to make a bucket, you cannot help but be impressed. The way the Spurs operate (reasonably so), Castle does not have Jordan Poole/George Costanza levels of greenlight greener than Sochan’s hair (not tonight, but you know what I mean) levels to chuck up shots whenever he pleases. But the ability is there. The next step will be taking it upon himself to be more aggressive when the other stars on the team are having an off night.
Only Victor Wembanyama can make a Eurostep, one-handed dunk look so casual. And let’s not ignore Sean Elliott’s comment that he “gets nervous when guys get handsy.” I could not agree more: keep your hands to yourselves, be it on the basketball court or the food court at the mall (looking at you, Josh from seventh grade, I haven’t forgotten you stealing my waffle fries from Chick-fil-A back when CFA was only in food courts at the mall).
Keldon Johnson out here picking pockets and filling buckets. KJ continues to be a key contributor off the bench, averaging 12.9 points while shooting an impressive 46.7 percent from three. It’s still early, but the veteran Spur (really feels weird typing that) will continue to bring energy, hustle, and hopefully hot shooting from deep.
I’ve never dunked a ball (if you don’t count the Fisher Price plastic basketball goal I went ham on last weekend), but this clip of Wembanyama’s one-dribble dunk up close made me realize how much it has to hurt to constantly pound your hand and wrist against a carbon steel rim. Maybe this is why Popovich did not encourage dunking. But dunks do look very cool, like wearing a trench coat in 90-degree weather as you coolly and broodingly but slowly step out of a car while white doves fly around you. If you read the last part and also thought that we need more John Woo/Nic Cage collaborations like Face/Off, then you’ve come to the right San Antonio Spurs website.
It’s not easy to get a crowd of Los Angelans hopped up on kombucha and French fries in their burrito this excited, but number one (in our hearts and yours) brought the thunder on this baseline jam. As the schedule toughens up, the Spurs will look to sharpen themselves against the competition to stay in the fray of playoff contention.
If you missed the game because you were too busy trolling Donovan Mitchell on NBA 2K, here are the full-game highlights:
Next up, the Spurs head home to take on the Houston Rockets on Friday, November 7, 2025.
