San Antonio Spurs

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Lore & Background

The franchise has won NBA championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. As of the 2022–23 season, the Spurs had the highest winning percentage among active NBA franchises. As of May 2017, the Spurs had the best winning percentage of any franchise in the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada over the previous three decades. From 1999–2000 to 2016–17, the Spurs won 50 games each season, setting a record of 18 consecutive 50-win seasons. In the 2018–19 season, the Spurs matched an NBA record for most consecutive playoff appearances with 22. The team's success has coincided with the tenure of former head coach Gregg Popovich, as well as with the playing careers of Spurs icons David Robinson (1989–2003) and Tim Duncan (1997–2016). In the 2022–23 season, the Spurs celebrated the club's 50th anniversary.

In Their Own Story

The Spurs' history is defined by resilience and adaptation. After struggling with attendance as the Texas Chaparrals, the franchise found stability in San Antonio in 1973. For years, the Spurs set the standard for consistency, holding the NBA's all-time best win percentage at 62.2% as of the end of the 2020–21 season. This streak saw them finish with fewer than 50 wins in a non-lockout season only twice: first in 1996–97 and again in 2017–18, marking the longest such streak in NBA history. However, the long run of dominance eventually met its end; the 2019–20 season became the first since 1996–97 that the Spurs missed the playoffs. The following year, they missed out again, creating a franchise-first occurrence of consecutive seasons without a playoff berth.

Reader's Guide

Spurs players are active members of the San Antonio community, and many former Spurs are still active in San Antonio, including David Robinson with the Carver Academy, and George Gervin with the George Gervin Youth Center. The Spurs set several NBA attendance records while playing at the Alamodome including the largest crowd ever for an NBA Finals game in 1999, and the Spurs continue to sell out the smaller Frost Bank Center (formerly SBC Center and AT&T Center) on a regular basis. Since 2003, the team has been forced into an extended road trip for much of February since the Frost Bank Center hosts the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo during that month. This is informally known as the 'Rodeo Road Trip'. The Spurs have consistently posted winning road records during this period, including an NBA-record longest single road-trip winning streak (eight games out of nine, achieved in 2003). When the Spurs have won the NBA title, the team's victory parades have been boat trips on the San Antonio River Walk.

Did You Know?

• The Spurs started out as the Dallas Chaparrals of the original version of the American Basketball Association (ABA).
• The team was renamed the San Antonio Gunslingers before changing to the Spurs.
• The Spurs' first game at HemisFair Arena was a loss to the San Diego Conquistadors.
• George Gervin was acquired from the Virginia Squires in January 1974.
• The Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and New York Nets joined the NBA for the 1976–77 season.