Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images The teardown is over. Now the challenge to build a new foundation begins. The Spurs had to redefine success over the past few years, a process that was painful for a franchise that contended for nearly two decades. First-round exits and play-in spots replaced championships before a rebuild shifted the goals toward individual development and talent acquisition. The 2024-25 NBA season is not a return to form for a San Antonio team that has more modest goals than the Larry O’Brien, but it signifies the first step on the path back to where the franchise once was. The Spurs, for the first time since the Kawhi Leonard debacle, have the cornerstones to build on and the desire to win. The rebuild is far from over, but the Silver and Black are not in tanking mode anymore. After an experimental season, the front office signed Chris Paul and traded for Harrison Barnes to bring some consistency and leadership to a team that showed flashes of competence at times during Victor Wembanyama's rookie year but generally suffered from the typical issues that plague young groups that lack multiple blue-chip prospects. The roster doesn’t look much different this year, with fourth overall in the 2024 NBA draft selection Stephon Castle adding to the inexperience of a good portion of the projected rotation, but the general approach appears to be more conventional. The Spurs are surely valuing development, but there’s a structure in place to facilitate it now. The big question is how much better the team will be in terms of wins. Not having as many empty possessions on offense will help, and those fewer turnovers should prevent easy buckets from opponents, but will the turnaround be significant enough in the standings? The Spurs had the point differential of a 26-win team last season, better than the 22 wins they got but still among the worst in the league. Even at age 39, Chris Paul will help bring order, and Harrison Barnes will make the right play more often than not, but neither of those guys are difference-makers at this point in their careers. A lot of the issues that made last season hard to watch at times — ball handlers who can’t shoot, defenders with subpar physical tools, role players who lack court vision — are still there. An actual mandate to win and added playmaking are good steps in the right direction but not enough to vault a flawed team into playoff contention. Internal development is still the biggest factor for the Spurs. It will take individual improvement for the team to take the next step. San Antonio has only one top-tier player, a few B-level guys and a lot of C-tier complementary parts. If some specialists can become two-way guys, the secondary scorers up their efficiency and one or two of the seemingly inconsequential names turn into consistent contributors, the play-in is a realistic possibility even in the gauntlet that is the West. Preseason brought some reasons for optimism in the form of Julian Champagnie’s scorching shooting, Castle’s and Blake Wesley’s defense and some solid play from a fully healthy Zach Collins, but the team needs more. The absence of Devin Vassell to start the season, although not expected to be long-lasting, gives others the opportunity to step up, but they might not be able to. The other path back to relevance, if the supporting cast remains imperfect, is for Victor Wembanyama to turn into the fire-breathing monster his talent suggests he could be soon and make everything else not matter. When Wemby was on the court last season, the Spurs' defense boasted a defensive rating that would have them ranked fifth in the league. He’s already a game-changer on that end. Offensively, San Antonio would have ranked 28th with the big man on the floor. Unlocking Victor’s scoring and passing potential is the most important task. Chris Paul will help, but providing Wemby with space to operate and helping him overcome some of the decision-making issues that plagued him during his rookie season will take a concerted effort from the coaching staff and every other player. If he does make the leap, life will be easier for everyone else. At the stage of the rebuild the Spurs are in, there should be no pressure. Wembanyama is going to be around for a while, there are some good young pieces already in place, and there’s plenty of cap space and trade assets to bring in reinforcements. There’s even a highly-touted draft class to get excited about if things go terribly wrong. The front office proved that patience is one of their virtues by trading the eighth pick of the past draft for future assets, and as solid as adding Chris Paul and Barnes was, using cap space to acquire them was not the type of big-time move a win-now team makes. Setting unrealistic expectations for a roster that is clearly a work in progress will only lead to disappointment. And yet it’s impossible to avoid hoping for tangible and significant improvement, both in execution and in the standings. The Spurs don’t need to make the playoffs, but at the end of the ride they need to have a clearer idea of what works going forward, not in a theoretical but in a practical way. Anything else would be a failure. After five years in purgatory and two tearing things down, the Spurs now have the opportunity to set the right foundation to build their next contender. The work they do this year will resonate in the future. A crucial and fascinating season awaits.