LeBron James Says He Saw Spurs Breakout Season Coming Last Year

The San Antonio Spurs are a few wins away from a possible trip to the 2026 NBA Finals.

This meteoric rise comes just one season after the Spurs finished 13th in the Western Conference with a 34-48 regular-season record in 2024-25. That disappointing season resulted in San Antonio’s No. 2 overall draft selection, pairing Dylan Harper with a rising young core of Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle.

During Thursday’s release of the “Mind the Game” podcast, LeBron James said he saw this ascension on the horizon at the end of last season.

“I think people came into the season knowing the Spurs were going to play great basketball as long as Wemby was healthy. I saw it last year towards the end of the season,” James said. “I said, ‘If Stephon Castle comes into the year like he finished last year.’ De’Aaron Fox was kind of hurt at the end of last year, but once they made that trade I was like “They’re going to be a really freaking good team.”

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The Spurs notched a thrilling double-overtime victory over the reigning NBA-champion Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, despite Fox’s absence due to an ankle injury. The core group of Wembanyama, Castle and Harper each put up monster stat lines in the series-opening win.

The Thunder bounced back with a victory in Game 2, tying the series as it heads to San Antonio for Game 3 and Game 4.

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Friday night’s Game 3 matchup will tipoff at 8:30 p.m. ET with both Harper and Fox as game-time decisions.

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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 2:52 PM.