Spurs embrace goal of progress as they host winless Kings

Every season is a new one and each game is an opportunity to learn and improve, even for a San Antonio team that returned its top 10 players from its run to the NBA Finals last year.

The Spurs host the winless Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, three nights after earning -- but not celebrating -- their initial victory of the season.

The Spurs head home after a 122-106 win over the short-handed Mavericks in Dallas on Saturday, with Victor Wembanyama scoring a team-high 23 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

The Spurs led by just three points beginning the final period but swamped Dallas down the stretch, building as much as a 23-point lead and cruising to the finish line. Dylan Harper added 22 points, De'Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle scored 19 apiece, Julian Champagnie hit for 12 off the bench and Devin Vassell tallied 11 points for San Antonio.

While it's hard to say the Spurs "righted the ship" after losing their first two games to Oklahoma City and Houston, respectively, Wembanyama admitted this campaign's start feels different than last year. San Antonio surprised most pundits by winning the Western Conference in 2026.

"It's a different sort of challenge, but I guess it's like everything," Wembanyama explained. "The best, or maybe the only, way to learn is to go through it. I don't know if frustrating is the word, but I would say I'm experiencing, you know, learning how to navigate it."

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson refused to allow his team to celebrate the win.

"We've played three games, and we've got stretches of the games where we're getting our butts kicked," Johnson said. "There's a lot of things we can control and we've got to be better at that."

"If you were in the locker room you would have thought we lost the game," Fox added.

The Kings were forecast to be near the bottom of the West standings in the preseason and have done little to dispel that prediction, losing their first three contests of the year while allowing at least 121 points in each game.

Sacramento's most recent setback was a 123-112 home loss to Memphis on Sunday, in which the Kings surrendered an 11-0 run to the visiting Grizzlies with 5:28 left and never recovered.

"I have to be better for them," Kings coach Doug Christie said after Sunday's loss. "This isn't on them. I'll take this."

Zach LaVine's 37 points led all scorers while rookie guard Darius Acuff Jr. had 22 points and a game-high seven assists. Domantas Sabonis added 15 points and 15 rebounds, while Precious Achiuwa posted 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Kings, whose defensive struggles have overshadowed individual offensive performances.

"If we're not a defensive team, we still have to figure out how to get stops," LaVine said. "We have talented offensive players. I'm not worried about that."

Acuff has attempted 73 field goals, the most by any player through his first three NBA games in the past 50 years, but has made just 24 (32.9%).

--Field Level Media