NBA Season Preview 2019-20: The one reason to watch each and every team

San Antonio Spurs: Dejounte and Derrick

DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge are the stars of the show, and aside from Gregg Popovich, they’re the biggest reason the San Antonio Spurs shouldn’t be counted out in their pursuit of a NBA-record 23rd consecutive playoff spot. But we know what this iteration of the Spurs is, and we know that winning even one playoff series would count as a successful season considering how stacked the West is. Their best players — two mid-range gunners — aren’t necessarily their most interesting.

At some point, the Spurs will have to turn the page, especially since their backcourt is overflowing with young talent that’s already proven it can handle its own in a playoff series. San Antonio will be getting Dejounte Murray — an All-Defensive First Team selection in his last healthy season — back after sitting out with a torn ACL last year. It was supposed to be his coming-out party, so the Spurs will be hoping that momentum simply carries over to this season.

Then there’s Derrick White, another defensive stalwart who showed flashes of a burgeoning game on offense, like in the playoffs when he scored a career-high 36 points on 15-of-21 shooting in Game 3 against the Nuggets. And that’s without even mentioning Lonnie Walker IV, who dominated Summer League as a man among boys, or sharpshooter Bryn Forbes.

Pop will keep this team in the playoff picture no matter what, but the Spurs haven’t looked good in preseason and they haven’t been a real postseason threat in years. Whether they’re able make the jump back into the legitimate contender category will rely entirely on what Derrick White is able to build on from last year and what Dejounte Murray supplies in a possible bounce-back season.