It’s not a name many people know, but perhaps Friday night’s performance was Garcia’s breakout game.

Against the Utah Jazz, the Spurs pulled out an overtime win 134-130 to go 2-0 in the preseason, and Garcia, who came off the bench, was probably their most important player notching 20 points, five rebounds, four assists, and a steal.

It was a nice uptick from his first preseason game against the Miami Heat, where he only put up seven points, but the one glaring hole has been Garcia’s inability to shoot the 3 – something that he excelled in during the Summer League.

Garcia signed a two-way deal with the Spurs this past July shortly after being named to the NBA first-team All Summer League.

In July, Garcia blew Spurs fans away with just how polished he looked, while also posing as a perimeter threat.

The California Classic was just the first step. He averaged an impressive 22.7 points per game while shooting an otherworldly 47% from 3-point range. Then, as the Spurs shifted over to Las Vegas, Garcia then put up 21.3 points on a staunch 50% from 3.

We’ve talked about in the past just how fortunate the Spurs have gotten since shifting their franchise’s outlook into rebuild mode.

From landing superstar Victor Wembanyama, to winning the draft lottery another time to get Dylan Harper, to drafting the Rookie of the Year in Stephon Castle, to picking up established guard De’Aaron Fox.

San Antonio has been the model of how to build a successful franchise for decades. R.C. Buford has seen it all, and is the mastermind of building the dynasty that is the Spurs.

Since 1999, he’s served in the front office and hasn’t left the helm. From being General Manager for over 15 years, it was his turn to hand the keys to Brian Wright, so Buford can become the team CEO. 

During that time, Buford, along with the tutelage of longtime coach Gregg Popovich managed to turn late first-rounders and second-round draft picks like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili into Hall of Famers.

Along with that, second rounders Danny Green and Patty Mills, and undrafted players such as Bruce Bowen and Ime Udoka were legitimate options to championship teams.

Can Buford, along with Wright, find another gem in Garcia? There’s a lot of time to figure out what the Spurs have in him, but having him under the umbrella of the Spurs will only help his development.