Ranking Spurs' Top Trade Targets After 2026 NBA Finals Loss
The San Antonio Spurs used the 2025-26 NBA season as their springboard to title contention.
They nearly wound up skipping the typical growing-pain process and teleporting straight to a championship parade.
But their young core, perhaps plagued by collective big-stage inexperience, struggled to make sizable leads stick against the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. The best life lessons are often the most painful, and San Antonio probably has plenty of second-guessing sleepless nights in front of it.
That said, the intel gained will be invaluable, since the Spurs are no longer questioning whether they belong among basketball's greats. They not only gained entry into that uber-exclusive club, they have a chance to lead it with a smart summer of internal growth and surely some external additions.
Their front office may not feel the need to swing such dramatic deals as these, but given their almost limitless trade budget, it makes sense to populate the top of their summer wish list with premier players.
3. Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
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The Spurs might have more good-to-great guards than they can handle, and their center, Victor Wembanyama, is the league's latest cheat code. So, if they swing a blockbuster trade, it's a near certainty that they'll attack the forward spots.
Brown, an All-NBA second-teamer, is arguably the best wing on the market. Now, "on the market" might be overselling his availability, but his future in Boston has been an actual talking point. While the Celtics would certainly want a fortune for him, the Spurs, who are rich with both draft capital and ascending prospects, are one of the few franchises perfectly positioned to pay an exorbitant price.
This feels more dramatic than what San Antonio probably wants to do, which is why Brown doesn't slot even higher. Adding Brown would require quite a bit of movement with both the rotation and the payroll, so the Spurs would have to be fully convinced that he is the proverbial missing puzzle piece.
Again, though, they're stacked at the guard spots and blessed by the basketball gods at center, so it wouldn't take a huge leap in logic to feel like a star wing could take this team over the top. A deal doesn't feel likely, but San Antonio could make this happen if it wanted to.
2. Aaron Gordon, Denver Nuggets
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After winning it all in 2023, the Nuggets suffered consecutive second-round exits and then were knocked out of this year's opening round. This isn't a direction any team wants to be moving, let alone one rostering a 31-year-old with a legitimate argument for being considered the best player on the planet (Nikola Jokić).
So, the conditions in Denver could call for drastic changes this summer. As team president Josh Kroenke told reporters, "I think that everything's going to be on the table, outside of trading Nikola."
The Nuggets would presumably prefer to keep Gordon, their uber-valuable Swiss Army knife, but the Spurs could dangle the kind of trade package that makes them reconsider that stance. And one might argue they should, since a big, physical forward who can finish, shoot, create and defend could be exactly what this roster needs to clear that final hurdle.
If there's any pause here, it's probably with Gordon's relative lack of three-point volume, which might be a worry with the spacing concerns tied to this guard group. No trade candidate is perfect, though, and Gordon would still be more of a need-filler than most.
1. Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans
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If the Spurs think they need an impact player but not necessarily an identity-changing star, then they could see Murphy as their priority target.
The 25-year-old is a snug fit for both this team's timeline and style of play. Creation might be the biggest gap in his game, but that shouldn't be a worry with the wealth of talent he'd have around him in Texas. His three-point shooting and finishing would shine in this offense, and he'd add more length and disruption to what's already a stingy defense.
He produces near a star-level (21.5 points on 47/37.9/88.6 shooting this season), but he isn't paid like one ($87 million over the next three seasons). Now, he might carry a star-type price in terms of a trade, but again, that's doable if the decision-makers in the Alamo City deem him a necessary addition.
If San Antonio seeks a player who can mesh with this core right away and grow with it in the coming years, Murphy fits that description better than anyone on or even near the market.
