Spurs historic rivalries ranked from least to most impactful

2. Dallas Mavericks:

San Antonio and the Dallas Mavericks have one of the best "in-state" rivalries in the league. Each team followed the idea of fundamentals and great ball movement and had similar consistency within their strong front offices, leading to success.

San Antonio and Dallas have had some memorable matchups over the last two decades, and it all started between two great big men. The Duncan-Dirk Nowitzki showdowns were some of the league's best, with both players always trying to show dominance.

From a skill-set perspective, Duncan prided himself on his array of post moves and rim protection, while Nowitzki was a wizard on offense with his unorthodox moves and elite shooting touch. Ultimately, the two made each other better over the course of their careers and had mutual respect through it all.

By the numbers, San Antonio holds the all-time head-to-head series record, 115 to 84, and most notably, a 4 to 2 playoff series lead against Dallas. Most of their memorable games happened in the playoffs, where the two teams took their best games to the next level. In the 2001, 2003 and 2006 seasons, these battles all came in the semi-final round or higher, while the 2009, 2010 and 2014 series were all in the first round.

Duncan and Nowitzki led this rivalry for the last two decades, but for the next two, it will likely be battles between Wembanyama and Luka Doncic. Since Doncic has been in the league, Dallas has dominated San Antonio winning 15 of the last 23 games. These numbers can take a turn with an improvement of Wembanyama and the young team around him. Overall, this rivalry is one of the league's best.