What's going on at the San Antonio Spurs?

The Spurs boast a generational rookie talent in Victor Wembanyama, a nice young supporting cast and perhaps the greatest coach to ever do it. So why are they this terrible?

Wembanyama reacts to an official during the game against the Washington Wizards.

Let’s get this out of the way at the beginning: Everyone loves Gregg Popovich. He’s a five-time NBA champion, the league’s all-time winningest coach and he led the US men’s national team to a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Furthermore, if some tragic world event occurs, Pop is the person in the NBA most would want to hear from (Doc Rivers and Steve Kerr being next). But affection can’t get in the way of a difficult question. So here goes: Why are the San Antonio Spurs so bad?

This year, the Spurs have a sub-.200 winning percentage. They’ve barely broken double-digit victories after playing 55 games (they’re 11-44). The Spurs also boast one of the best and most exciting NBA players in rookie Victor Wembanyama, along with several other talented young guys like Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan. Can we really live in a world where the New York Knicks are the paragon of decision-making and the Spurs are somehow the dregs? But maybe there is a method to the team’s recent madness – for their fans’ sake, let’s hope so.