Spurs of this moment: How San Antonio crashed the top of the Western Conference party

San Antonio is tearing the 'they're not ready' argument to shreds

Something serious is happening in San Antonio, where the Spurs handed the Thunder a 130-110 loss on Tuesday to move into sole possession of the Western Conference's No. 2 seed at 22-7. The Spurs have now given OKC half of its four losses this season, both coming over the last 10 days. 

The Thunder, who lost just once through their first 25 games, have actually lost three of their last five, with the other defeat coming at the hands of the Timberwolves, who have very quietly won 10 of their last 12. If you truly want to believe OKC is beatable, this is your time as the ease of their early schedule turns upside down. 

Zooming out, the consensus remains that the top of the Western Conference belongs to the Thunder, Nuggets and Rockets. The Lakers are a wild card. The Timberwolves are trying to knock on the door. 

But at the moment, the Spurs are the team that is threatening to kick the damn thing down, if they haven't already. Would it be easier to slap the "few years away" tag on the Spurs? Sure. Give them time, everyone would like to say. Think long term. Let the supporting cast develop. Hell, let Victor Wembanyama develop. The guy is barely old enough to drink legally.

But what if this is really happening right now? Take an honest look at this team and find a reason why they can't beat anyone in a seven-game series that doesn't include "they're just not ready." Do they not have a superstar? Do they not have a second offensive star? Are they not deep enough? Not versatile enough? Do they not have the sixth-best shooting percentage (including a top-10 3-point percentage) in the league? Do they not have multiple ball handlers and playmakers? Do they not have a top-five offense and defense? 

OK, you got me. They're sixth in defense. 

Seriously, what non-narrative, strictly basketball argument can you make that Spurs aren't an elite team? If you've got one, I'd love to hear it. Until then, let's talk about why this bright future everyone likes to put off in the distance has actually already arrived. 

Wemby changes everything

We know how much Victor Wembanyama changes a basketball game, and yet I'm not sure we are ready to fully accept how much that changes a postseason outlook that we still want to believe is about experience over all else. A lot of people said the same thing about the Warriors in 2015. The masses just weren't ready to see what Stephen Curry was doing and how much it was changing everything we knew about the game. 

Indeed, Wembanyama warps defensive space in the same way Curry does offensive space. The range from which he can destroy your offense is a geometric anomaly. Jump shooters have to change their entire calculus when he's closing out. Drivers require multiple extra steps of separation to avoid erasure, and they're still looking over their shoulder. Wemby doesn't just blocks shots (incidentally, his streak of 101 straight games with at least one block ended on Tuesday); he scares you into not even taking them. 

To say this changes everything is an understatement, and it's also to say nothing about Wemby's own offensive dominance, where he shatters everything you thought you knew about spacing and potential ground coverage. Giannis has given us a taste of this, but not before Wembanyama did you ever have consider the possibility that a guy might take a roll pass from the top of the circle and easily get home without taking a single dribble. 

Since his return from a month-long calf-strain absence, Wembanyama has been coming off the bench and has only played 20 minutes per game, and still he averaged 17.8 points, 9.2 rebounds and two blocks on 56% shooting over his first six games back (this includes the NBA Cup championship that doesn't technically count toward stats). 

There isn't a single other player in the league who has met these statistical bars this season, and this guy has come back from a month off to do it in 20 minutes a night off the bench. Per 36 minutes (roughly what he played in seven November games), Wembanyama has averaged 31 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists and 3.5 blocks on 56% shooting, including 42% from 3, in his five official December games. 

All told, he's the only player in the league averaging at least 23 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocks, and he's clearing those numbers comfortably. He is truly matchup proof. Put a big man on him and he's making him look foolish with his handle and array of shot making (ask Anthony Davis, one of the better big man defenders in the world, who tasted the full seasoning of Wemby's 40-piece cooking in the season opener). Put a small defender on him (as has been a frequent strategy), and he's rising up for jumpers with an shot-contest imperviousness that makes Kevin Durant jealous. On top of it all, the guy might be one of the league few truly competitive psychopaths. 

Victor Wembanyama is a monster. We know this. What we didn't know, or at least what we weren't so sure about, was just how good the rest of the Spurs were going to be. 

An elite support staff

Prior to the season, you didn't have to be a basketball savant to look at the Spurs' roster and point to a lot of really good players outside of Wemby, but when they went 9-3 while Wembanyama was out with a major win over the Nuggets, it was a real eye-opener. This team is a lot more than just Wembanyama. 

• Stephon Castle is making 60% of his 2-pointers and looks like a Jimmy Butler in the making. When he and Wemby have been on the court together, San Antonio has outscored opponents by more than 14 points per 100 possessions with what would rank as the No. 1 defense in the league, per Cleaning the Glass. 
• De'Aaron Fox averaged 25.5 points and 6.8 assists on 48/40/83 shooting splits in the month Wemby was out. He is the second star you need in a postseason series where every opponent is going to do everything in its power to limit Wembanyama. 

• Devin Vassell is having one of the best seasons you've likely heard nothing about. There are two kinds of good shooters in basketball: Those who look to shoot, and those who can't wait to shoot. Vassell can't wait. He hunts shots like prime Klay Thompson. He's shooting 40% from 3 on seven attempts a night and has the league's 13th-highest "Win probability added" number, both overall and in the Clutch, via Inpredictable. 

• Harrison Barnes leads the league with 35 corner 3s and is shooting 40% from beyond the arc overall. He is a perfect 3-and-D role player until you start thinking that's all he can do, at which point he overpowers you with back-to-the-basket force, show-and-go drives and crafty interior footwork. 

• Luke Kornet is what Isaiah Hartenstein is to the Thunder: The No 2 big who is actually a No. 1. Scorers are shooting over four percentage points worse when defended by Kornet -- a number right in line with Anthony Davis -- and when Kornet has been with the starters in place of Wembanyama the Spurs have won those minutes by over 11 points per 100 possessions, per CTG.

• Keldon Johnson should be in Sixth Man of the Year conversations. He is pure energy and has been incredible getting downhill as a powerful paint scorer. His 57% mid-range clip is top 10 among wings. His 132.7 points per 100 shot attempts ranks in the 93rd percentile, per CTG. He went for 25 on five 3-pointers in the Tuesday win over OKC.  

• Dylan Harper is going to be an absolute stud when he starts to shoot and score more efficiently, but in the meantime he's already a major impact player as basically a third point guard. The No. 2 overall pick can get two feet in the paint whenever he wants. He's strong. Forceful. Over San Antonio's last two NBA Cup elimination games he combined for 45 points on 8-of-12 3-point shooting, then he turned around and was one of the best players on the floor against OKC with only four points, tallying 10 assists and five steals with zero turnovers in 20 minutes. 

All of this speaks to a level of versatility that makes San Antonio a scary postseason threat. It would be one thing if Wembanyama had to play superman at 21 years old over night, but he doesn't (even if he's sort of a superhero just in his natural state). That would burn out. But the Spurs can beat you a bunch of ways with a bunch of different catalysts. 

Consider that on Tuesday night the Spurs got 12 points from Wemby, six points from Fox, four points from Harper, and beat the best team in the world by 20 points. Over their last eight games, they have had seven different leading scorers. Eight guys are averaging double-digit points. Nine are playing at least 20 minutes a night. 

Jeremy Sochan might be their best perimeter defender and is barely a rotation player because the Spurs don't have to forfeit offense for defense, or vice versa. Everyone they put on the floor can do everything. In a postseason setting, to have three primary ball handlers, all of whom share that duty when they share the floor, and at least four premium individual shot creators is a luxury very few teams enjoy. 

The Spurs can play small. They can do the two-big thing -- with Wembanyama and Kornet on the court they are outscoring opponents by 7.8 points per 100 possessions with an basically impenetrable 100.9 defensive rating, per CTG. 

Again, I defy anyone to find me a reason that the Spurs shouldn't be considered a legitimate threat to beat any team in the world in a seven-game series. That's not to suggest they will win the whole thing, or hell, even get out of the first round. The Western Conference is a bloodbath. It's just to say they're just as capable as any non-OKC team and, well, they've beaten OKC twice with a chance to do it again on Christmas. 

The Spurs are, right now, one of the five best teams in the league without a question, and if you're a top five team, you are, by any definition, ready. The fact that they're going to be even better in the years to come is another, even scarier story.