The San Antonio Spurs will open the 2026 Emirates NBA Cup against a West Group C that looks more like a snapshot of the Western Conference than a routine draw. The Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings were placed together, and group play tips off Oct. 30.
That setup matters because three of the five teams were 2026 playoff teams, while the Kings and Warriors fell into the Draft Lottery. It also puts the Spurs back in the same early tournament conversation as the Lakers, the one West Group C rival with the clearest Cup history after winning the inaugural competition in 2023. For readers looking for the group that will shape the opening weeks of the NBA Cup, this is the one to watch.
San Antonio enters as the standard-bearer for the Western Conference after reaching both the Emirates NBA Cup championship game and the NBA Finals last season. The Spurs reached the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014, then fell to the Knicks in a thrilling series, a run that gave the franchise a new place in the Cup era even after finishing as runner-up in 2025. Victor Wembanyama missed 12 games with a calf strain before returning in the Semifinals in 2025, and that absence still frames how the team’s recent rise is read.
The numbers inside West Group C also point to how tight the group could be. The Spurs and Trail Blazers finished with matching 10-4 records in head-to-head matchups among the group’s teams last season, while the Lakers finished one game over.500 and took losses against San Antonio and Portland. Los Angeles did beat the Kings and Warriors, which is part of why the group can feel balanced on paper even before a ball is tipped.
That balance is not the whole story, though. Portland ended a four-year playoff drought and was then eliminated in the first round by the Spurs, so its place in the group comes with both momentum and a reminder of how far it still has to go. The Kings added the No. 7 overall pick in the Draft Lottery and the Warriors added the No. 11 overall pick, which means two teams in the group are already trying to convert lottery position into a faster turnaround.
For San Antonio, the draw is less about novelty than proof. The Spurs have already shown they can handle the Cup stage, but West Group C gives them a rematch set against teams at different points of their seasons, from the Lakers’ past Cup pedigree to Portland’s breakthrough year and the Kings’ and Warriors’ reset. The first test arrives Oct. 30, and the group will answer quickly whether the Spurs remain the team everyone else has to measure against.
