Following the 2024-25 season, the Spurs new they needed an upgrade at back-up center. They had already traded away Zach Collins during the season, and Charles Bassey proved to be too injury prone, leaving them with just Bismack Biyombo to close the season after losing Victor Wembaynama to deep vein thrombosis. They responded with arguably the steal of the offseason by snatching a veteran with championship experience in Luke Kornet on a very friendly deal.
It worked swimmingly in the 2025-26 regular
season, with the defensive drop-off when Wemby left the floor or missed time with injury being much lower than before. However, Kornet struggled as the playoffs progressed and the opponents got stronger, and not having any other reliable depth at center forced more minutes from Wemby despite him showing signs of fatigue in the Finals, leading to one of many reasons why they lost that series.
With that in mind, the Spurs went all in on size and defense in the draft a week later, taking a couple of beasts in the first round with Jayden Qauintance at 20th and trading for Tarris Reed, Jr. at 26th. While it will be a while — perhaps even a year — before we get see Quaintance, who is recovering from knee surgery, Reed has been one of the standouts in the preseason so far, averaging 5.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1 block. He especially stood out in Utah with 17 rebounds in 24 min, including doing his best Dr. J impression with seven in a minute-and-a-half span in the 2nd quarter.
Reed isn’t your average rookie. He’s 23 years old and played all four years in college, including the last two at UConn under Dan Hurley (who also helped make Stephon Castle into the defensive menace he is today). His 6’11”, 265lb frame, age and maturity makes him strongest rookie in his class and even compared some veteran NBA centers, and in the preseason, an argument can me made that he has looked better than Kornet.
None of this is to say Reed is ready to replace Kornet as Wemby’s back-up full time — he’s still a work in progress on offense and presents the same challenges on the floor with Wemby as French Vanilla, limiting his opportunities for extra minutes — but he certainly brings something the Spurs did not have last season: a strong, hardnosed big man who is a rebounding machine and won’t be pushed around by stronger centers. He gives Mitch Johnson the option to change things up in the match-ups that are rough on Kornet, as well much more insurance should someone get hurt.
Wemby and Kornet missed a combined 32 games last season, and while only two of those overlapped (one being the meaningless regular season finale) and the Spurs still faired well, 30 games is a lot with only one or no reliable center. The Spurs usually managed those Wemby/Kornet-less minutes by going small with Carter Bryant, Harrison Barnes or Julian Champagnie playing de facto center, but even if they still want to do that some by design this season (and they might with Tobias Harris), they at least won’t be forced to with Reed now in tow.
It’s always an over reaction to take the preseason too seriously, and it’s not like Reed has been facing the best the NBA has to offer so far, but his play has been a very comforting assurance that the Spurs handled their biggest weakness from last season about as well as possible. It will be interesting to see if he eventually supersedes Kornet in the rotation, or at least if Johnson shows no fear in putting the rookie out there when the situation or match-up calls for it.
