The San Antonio Spurs will open Emirates NBA Cup play against the Sacramento Kings with a chance to stretch their winning streak to seven, and they arrive with momentum that now defines the conversation around them. San Antonio has won six in a row after dropping its first two games, turning an uneven start into a fast climb up the standings.
That surge has been driven by Victor Wembanyama, who just produced 52 points, 24 rebounds and eight blocks in a one-point win over the Dallas Mavericks. He also finished with the kind of dominance that carried the Spurs through the game: San Antonio outscored Dallas by 23 points when he was on the floor, even while the team made only five of 36 three-point attempts.
That is the reason the matchup matters now. The Spurs already beat the Sacramento Kings once this season, and this meeting comes as they begin their NBA Cup schedule. It is also a useful test of how far a team can lean on one star when the rest of the roster is still uneven. San Antonio's bench ranks 27th in the league in points per game and 29th in assists per game, so the starters have been carrying most of the load.
The concern is not hard to find. The Spurs are winning despite poor outside shooting and limited production from the second unit, and that puts more pressure on the rotation behind Wembanyama. Keldon Johnson has been described as a subpar defender, while Julian Champagnie has struggled with quick perimeter players and has been exposed often. Even as the team keeps stacking wins, those weaknesses remain visible every time the margin tightens.
Sacramento brings its own problems into the game. Ben Simmons, Keegan Murray and Maxime Raynaud are among the Kings injuries, and the roster has looked more inept than expected during a rough season. That gives San Antonio a timely opening to keep the streak moving, but it also raises the same question that has followed the Spurs through the run: how much longer can the starters keep propping up the whole operation before the depth has to answer for itself?
