The San Antonio Spurs are must-watch TV every time they take the court, and a recent schedule prediction points to them being treated like a marquee event.
The San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks stand to be one of the best rivalries in the NBA for the next several years. After all, they met in both the NBA Finals and the NBA Cup last season, with the Knicks taking both.
Their rivalry goes back a bit further, too. In 2024, Victor Wembanyama's second season, the Spurs and Knicks played on Christmas Day. The Knicks also won that game. However, the Spurs did manage to beat the Knicks in Wemby's rookie season. Jalen Brunson scored 61 points in that game, but Wembanyama threw the game ball into the stands, keeping it out of Brunson's hands.
Maybe he should have tried winning the game if he wanted the ball!
Still, while the Spurs and Knicks are must-watch TV every time they take the court, the NBA is expected to bill the Spurs and Thunder, not the Knicks, as one of their premier rivalries,
Spurs Slated to Take on Thunder
Last season, the Spurs took on the OKC Thunder five times in the regular season, beating them in four of those games. San Antonio beat Oklahoma City on both Christmas and in the NBA Cup, and then beat them in seven games in the Western Conference Finals.
Despite dominating them all season long, the Thunder are perceived as just as good--if not better--than San Antonio. Wembanyama seems to have taken that personally, going out of his way to embarrass Chet Holmgren both on and off the court.
Apparenlty, Adam Silver will want to see more of that.
CBS Sports' Cameron Salerno predicted that the Spurs will play the Thunder on both opening night and Christmas next season. The Knicks, meanwhile, are expected to play the new-look Philadelphia 76ers to kick off the season and will play the Boston Celtics--their historical rivals--on the holiday.
The Spurs will still play the Knicks twice in the regular season, and fans should expect those Finals rematches to be televised nationally, but it's clear that the NBA wants to keep rivalries mostly within conferences. Plus, with the addition of LeBron James in the East, there are more A-list superstars out there than there used to be.
The league's schedule isn't out yet, but expect the Spurs to be slotted into prime time more often than not.
