If you stopped watching the NBA during the summer of 2016, you probably would not even recognize the San Antonio Spurs anymore.
Gone are Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, with Duncan and Ginobili riding off into retirement and Parker signing with the Charlotte Hornets this past offseason.
Oh, and Kawhi Leonard? He's gone, too.
Sure, Gregg Popovich is still the head coach, but outside of Patty Mills, everyone from the team that won the NBA championship in 2014 is gone.
Now, the team is led by LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan, the latter of whom San Antonio just acquired in a blockbuster trade that sent Leonard to the Toronto Raptors over the summer.
Judging by the fact that Aldridge is already 33 years old, the Spurs probably don't have much time left to win a title with this current core, and Aldridge himself recognizes that fact:
“You’re going to be here a long time,” Aldridge has told DeRozan on numerous occasions this season, according to Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express-News. “I’ve only got a couple of years left.”
At the age of 29, DeRozan is in the prime of his career, so even he does not have much longer to start contending for titles while playing at his current level.
You have to wonder if Aldridge and DeRozan will ever be able to put together a legitimate deep playoff run, as the Spurs have certainly fallen behind in the Western Conference arms race, which is something that we never thought we would be saying just a few years ago.
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