After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Western Conference · tip-off October 20

San Antonio Spurs

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

59 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 54 to 64 wins.

The market

61.4 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

62-20

2025-26 · net rating +8.1 (2nd in the NBA)

Our estimate is 2.3 wins below the market.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 52 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 61.4 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 59, middle 80%: 54 to 64 Market 61.4

Where we think they finish in the West

Top 6: 100% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 0.0% Outside the top 10: 0%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
2595¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
3095¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
3595¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
4094¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
4592¢ 98¢ 95¢ 100%
5086¢ 92¢ 89¢ 99%
5568¢ 74¢ 71¢ 86%
6056¢ 59¢ 58¢ 42%
6529¢ 34¢ 32¢ 7%
7011¢ 15¢ 13¢ 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 62-20 (2nd in wins)

Points per game
119.83rd
Allowed per game
111.58th
Offensive rating
117.44th
Defensive rating
109.33rd
Net rating
+8.12nd

2024-25 · 34-48 (23rd in wins)

Points per game
113.916th
Allowed per game
116.723rd
Offensive rating
112.419th
Defensive rating
115.125th
Net rating
-2.721st

2023-24 · 22-60 (26th in wins)

Points per game
112.123rd
Allowed per game
118.624th
Offensive rating
108.226th
Defensive rating
114.422nd
Net rating
-6.324th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
+2.433rd
Defense
-1.948th
Net, games only
+4.372nd
Roster value
+6.40

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (5)

  • Tobias Harrisfrom DET
    27.8 min, 13.3 pts a game
4 moredepth and rookies
  • Ja'Kobi GillespieRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Jayden QuaintanceRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Maliq BrownRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Tarris Reed Jr.Rookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (0)

Nobody with meaningful minutes left.

    The rotation we expect

    Top eight by projected minutes

    Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

    Stephon Castle G · age 21 · 31.3 projected min 2025-26: 68 g, 16.7 pts, 5.3 reb, 7.4 ast

    2025-26 · SA

    68games
    30.0min
    16.7pts
    5.3reb
    FG47.1%385/817
    3P33.2%81/244
    FT73.4%282/384

    7.4 assists a game

    2024-25 · SA

    81games
    26.7min
    14.7pts
    3.7reb
    FG42.8%423/988
    3P28.5%95/333
    FT72.4%249/344

    4.1 assists a game

    2023-24

    No regular-season games on file.

    Devin Vassell G · age 26 · 30.4 projected min 2025-26: 67 g, 13.9 pts, 4.0 reb, 2.5 ast

    2025-26 · SA

    67games
    30.5min
    13.9pts
    4.0reb
    FG43.7%330/755
    3P38.4%166/432
    FT81.5%106/130

    2.5 assists a game

    2024-25 · SA

    64games
    31.0min
    16.3pts
    4.0reb
    FG44.3%394/889
    3P36.8%158/429
    FT79.2%95/120

    2.9 assists a game

    2023-24 · SA

    68games
    33.0min
    19.5pts
    3.8reb
    FG47.2%498/1056
    3P37.2%166/446
    FT80.1%161/201

    4.1 assists a game

    De'Aaron Fox G · age 28 · 30.1 projected min 2025-26: 72 g, 18.6 pts, 3.8 reb, 6.2 ast

    2025-26 · SA

    72games
    31.0min
    18.6pts
    3.8reb
    FG48.6%509/1047
    3P33.2%131/395
    FT76.0%187/246

    6.2 assists a game

    2024-25 · SA/SAC

    62games
    36.2min
    23.5pts
    4.8reb
    FG46.3%539/1163
    3P31.0%118/381
    FT82.7%263/318

    6.3 assists a game

    2023-24 · SAC

    74games
    35.9min
    26.6pts
    4.6reb
    FG46.5%720/1549
    3P36.9%214/580
    FT73.8%312/423

    5.6 assists a game

    Victor Wembanyama C · age 22 · 28.3 projected min 2025-26: 64 g, 25.0 pts, 11.5 reb, 3.1 ast

    2025-26 · SA

    64games
    29.2min
    25.0pts
    11.5reb
    FG51.2%553/1080
    3P34.9%122/350
    FT82.7%372/450

    3.1 assists a game

    2024-25 · SA

    46games
    33.2min
    24.3pts
    11.0reb
    FG47.6%408/857
    3P35.2%142/403
    FT83.6%158/189

    3.7 assists a game

    2023-24 · SA

    71games
    29.6min
    21.4pts
    10.6reb
    FG46.5%551/1186
    3P32.5%128/394
    FT79.6%292/367

    3.9 assists a game

    Julian Champagnie F · age 25 · 27.0 projected min 2025-26: 82 g, 11.1 pts, 5.8 reb, 1.5 ast

    2025-26 · SA

    82games
    27.6min
    11.1pts
    5.8reb
    FG43.7%301/689
    3P38.1%195/512
    FT84.4%114/135

    1.5 assists a game

    2024-25 · SA

    82games
    23.6min
    9.9pts
    3.9reb
    FG41.5%276/665
    3P37.1%178/480
    FT90.4%85/94

    1.4 assists a game

    2023-24 · SA

    74games
    19.9min
    6.8pts
    2.8reb
    FG40.8%164/402
    3P36.5%101/277
    FT81.5%75/92

    1.4 assists a game

    Tobias Harris New here F · age 34 · 24.7 projected min 2025-26: 63 g, 13.3 pts, 5.1 reb, 2.5 ast

    2025-26 · DET

    63games
    27.8min
    13.3pts
    5.1reb
    FG46.9%309/659
    3P36.8%82/223
    FT86.6%136/157

    2.5 assists a game

    2024-25 · DET

    73games
    31.6min
    13.7pts
    5.9reb
    FG47.7%384/805
    3P34.5%91/264
    FT86.1%143/166

    2.2 assists a game

    2023-24 · PHI

    70games
    33.9min
    17.2pts
    6.5reb
    FG48.7%463/951
    3P35.3%91/258
    FT87.8%187/213

    3.1 assists a game

    Dylan Harper G · age 20 · 24.4 projected min 2025-26: 69 g, 11.8 pts, 3.4 reb, 3.9 ast

    2025-26 · SA

    69games
    22.6min
    11.8pts
    3.4reb
    FG50.5%331/656
    3P34.3%61/178
    FT75.6%90/119

    3.9 assists a game

    2024-25

    No regular-season games on file.

    2023-24

    No regular-season games on file.

    Keldon Johnson F · age 27 · 23.8 projected min 2025-26: 82 g, 13.2 pts, 5.4 reb, 1.4 ast

    2025-26 · SA

    82games
    23.3min
    13.2pts
    5.4reb
    FG51.9%414/797
    3P36.3%99/273
    FT79.4%154/194

    1.4 assists a game

    2024-25 · SA

    77games
    23.8min
    12.7pts
    4.8reb
    FG48.2%371/770
    3P31.8%87/274
    FT77.3%150/194

    1.6 assists a game

    2023-24 · SA

    69games
    29.6min
    15.7pts
    5.5reb
    FG45.4%391/862
    3P34.6%127/367
    FT79.2%175/221

    2.8 assists a game

    How to read this

    Method and limits

    How our estimate is built
    • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
    • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
    • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
    • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
    What the estimate does not know
    • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
    • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
    • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
    • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
    • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
    • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
    • Every team has a usable market median.
    • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
    • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
    • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
    • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
    • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

    Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.