Spurs gave the NBA six years to close the gap (and still lead by a mile)

Prior to last season's crazy run, the Spurs had fallen off their perch. An organization known for winning wasn't doing that—they were losing in droves. It was the perfect time for the rest of the NBA to close the gap on the Silver and Black's insane win percentage, but I guess six years wasn't enough time because San Antonio is still leading the field by a significant margin.

The Spurs gave the NBA six years to catch up

San Antonio is coming off a 62-20 campaign that included a run to the Finals that went through Portland, Minnesota, and Oklahoma City, so they're back on the winning track now. It's going to be almost impossible for anyone to catch them now if Victor Wembanyama and the Slash Bros continue to prove they are who we think they are.

What makes this stat impressive is knowing that it wasn't built off the Tim Duncan/Gregg Popovich years alone. It includes the post-Kawhi Leonard teardown and a couple of 22-win seasons, as the Spurs took more than half a decade to make it back to the postseason. But when they returned, the Silver and Black showed up with vengeance.

The Spurs didn't sneak back into contention

Last season was not a quiet announcement of their arrival. They didn't sneak through the back window. San Antonio kicked in the front door by rattling off five straight victories to open the season—a franchise record. Dominance was a season-long theme for Victor Wembanyama and company. Aside from a brief midseason rough patch, the Spurs maintained a top-two or three seed from start to finish.

There's no reason to expect that to be any different this time. Several talking heads have said, "San Antonio won't sneak up on anybody this time," but nothing was covert about their run through the Western Conference.

Sometimes it can apply, but it mostly feels like something people just say. The Spurs don't fall into that category because there's a 7'4" extraterrestrial on the team whom players have been bringing their best against since his arrival. Nikola Jokic averages 37 points against him, for God's sake. Nobody has taken it easy on San Antonio during the Wemby era.

Not to mention, there's something about knowing your shot will be spiked into next week if you're not on your A-game that brings the competitive fire out of guys. Mitch Johnson's ball club didn't sneak up on anyone. They were just better.

That's a long, roundabout way of saying no team should expect to catch up to the Spurs' winning percentage any time soon because they're not slowing down. The current gap between SA and runner-up Boston is about the same distance as the gap between second and fifth, and it's about to get wider.

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