Spurs official elimination from playoffs has hidden meaning fans will love

The San Antonio Spurs only have four games left in their current NBA campaign. De'Aaron Fox has been out nearly a month, Victor Wembanyama was ruled out almost two months ago, and yet the Silver and Black were only just disqualified from making the postseason in the vaunted Western Conference.

The West has a reputation as the most challenging of the two sides, and it's well deserved. The difference between the 3rd and 8th seeds is two games. Sacramento (38-40) and Dallas (38-41) sit in the 9th and 10th spot and unless something radical happens, they'll finish as the two Play-In Tournament teams.

Looking at San Antonio's season, it's hard not to believe that they wouldn't have secured a play-in spot had so many things not gone wrong.

San Antonio's adversity can't be forgotten in evaluations

The truth about this season is the circumstances surrounding this year from Coach Pop's stroke to Victor Wembanyama's blood clot make evaluating the players infinitely more difficult than it should have been. Nobody is to blame for that. Things happen and everyone's health is the most important thing to take care of, but those developments don't stop the rest of the world from moving.

This year was important to the task of finding out who needs to be on the roster long-term and who the franchise should move on from. Those decisions still must be made but they're made knowing they likely didn't get the best from all of their players due to the overwhelming adversity they faced all season.

The encouraging thing is knowing they got their draft pick right. Stephon Castle seized his moment, playing like the Rookie of the Year pretty much from the beginning of the season. He's provided plenty of wow moments and his demeanor is perfect for San Antonio. He always says the right thing and understands that winning is more important than individual accomplishments.

The unspoken reality about individual accomplishments, however, is that getting them often means you did something special that your team benefitted from. You don't want the players focused on that in a selfish fashion, but they don't give NBA awards to guys who don't make an impact.

The Spurs are way ahead of schedule

Analysts and fans were surprised when two months of the season went by and the Spurs were above .500. This team not only battled adversity, they were manhandling it. The league was saved from having to deal with Victor Wembanyama making the playoffs in his second season.

They were on pace for 42 wins before the wheels fell off. Those wheels stay firmly in place in Coach Pop is at the helm the entire season. If Fox still joins without needing surgery and the Alien stays on the floor, this is a completely different season.

The front office has their work cut out for them this summer. They'll need to fortify this team with compromised data, but once they do, the Silver and Black will be ready to make a run. There is a sleeping giant in San Antonio and it's almost feeding time. They'll be waking up soon, ready to make the playoffs next season for the first time since 2019.