Spurs' young core has clearly distanced itself from rivals after just one postseason

Victor Wembanyama is a transcendent talent and would make any team's young core "elite" by himself. Everyone knows that. He gives the Spurs a blindingly bright future, and that would be the case if he were the only player under 25 years old on the entire roster.

He's not, though, and in just one playoff series, the Spurs have shown that their young core — even without Wembanyama — would challenge the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks for best young core of the Texas teams.

Without their best player, the Spurs' young guys led them to a playoff win. Meanwhile, the Rockets are struggling against a Lakers team down its two best players and the Mavericks weren't anywhere near the postseason this year.

Now, that comes with some caveats, of course. I am a huge fan of Amen Thompson, and do believe the duo of he and Alperen Sengun is a formidable future force in the Western Conference. They have a vibe terrorist on their team and no one seems to like each other, but if they can build a roster around those two, I believe the future is bright regardless.

Dallas, meanwhile, does have a future superstar in Cooper Flagg on the roster. The hype machine was in full tilt for him, and Flagg somehow lived up to the expectations in year one (even if he doesn't win Rookie of the Year, which would be a baffling decision).

Outside of Flagg, though, the Mavericks young core is... Nonexistent. Max Christie is a nice player, and the Mavs should pick up a potential star in the draft this year. But they remain years away from surrounding Flagg with any real cornerstones who are on his same development timeline.

Thus, the Mavericks are still years away from the playoffs, the Rockets are falling apart at the seams for the second straight year, and the Spurs are winning games without Victor Wembanyama, and dominating them with him. It's a tale of three teams, that's for sure.

Spurs young players run laps around most of the NBA

Meanwhile, the Spurs have the best individual player of all three teams, plus the best collection of other young guys flanking him. You can make a real argument that if you take Wemby out of the picture entirely, the Spurs still have a more promising young group than either the Rockets or Mavericks. It's pretty remarkable.

While Spurs fans certainly get a little extra kick out of lapping the in-state field, it's not just teams in close proximity they have a leg up on. The rest of the NBA would kill to have a Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, or even a Carter Bryant, who have all contributed at different levels throughout this first round series, and will undoubtedly keep that up as the playoffs progress.

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