Spurs made bold trade deadline call that could pay dividends for years to come

The San Antonio Spurs could have controlled this year's NBA trade deadline. Their asset collection was deep enough to afford anyone on the market, while their combination of win-now talent and general (though not complete) lack of playoff experience could have been construed as a reason to attempt acceleration.

The Spurs just didn't agree with that assessment. Rather than broker some blockbuster, they snoozed through trade season. Maybe some see the no-choice as quite a bold choice, but if San Antonio plays its cards right, this could be the key toward contending both now and later.

"If you are reading the Spurs' lack of activity at the trade deadline as an indication that they don't have confidence, I would tell you [that] you are reading it incorrectly," ESPN's Tim MacMahon said on The Hoop Collective podcast. "... The Spurs, I'm just telling you, that is a group that believes they've got a real deal chance right now."

If that hunch is right—and the numbers believe it might be—the Spurs might be perfectly positioned to challenge the notion that the Oklahoma City Thunder have control of the Western Conference (if not the league at large) for years to come.

San Antonio boasts the talent and trade chips needed to potentially win now and later.

The Spurs have an MVP candidate in Victor Wembanyama, a viable co-star in De'Aaron Fox, and a fully loaded supporting cast around them. Hoops history holds that it takes top-10 efficiency ranks on both ends to contend for the crown, and the Spurs sit seventh in offense and third on defense, per NBA.com.

If San Antonio doesn't top the list of favorites, it's at least cracking the inner circle.

Would a caution-to-the-wind trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo have cemented the Spurs as the team to beat? Probably. But his availability always seemed less than certain, his trade cost would've been colossal, and maybe the whole move might've been unnecessary.

Because the Spurs can win the title right now. Full stop.

Not saying it's definitely going to happen, but it's obvious and easy to see how it could.

Now the real fun part—San Antonio's safeguarding of its assets ensures all kinds of flexibility moving forward. The Spurs are legitimately great now, and they somehow still have so many areas for possible improvement. Internal development might be chief among them, but if they ever deem trade market-dabbling a necessity, they have all kinds of young talent and draft capital at their disposal.

Maybe that means a major trade sits just over the horizon. Or maybe this means the Spurs have their own Thunderish assembly line of young, cost-controlled talent to keep them a step ahead of this restrictive-for-everyone-else collective bargaining agreement.

Either way, the future looks blindingly bright. And, despite the snoozy trade season, the present appears the same.