The San Antonio Spurs’ remarkable 2025-26 season ended one win short of a championship Saturday night, and Devin Vassell’s postgame comments reflected both the pain of the moment and the lessons learned from the team’s run to the NBA Finals.
After the New York Knicks completed a 4-1 Finals victory with a 94-90 win in Game 5 at Frost Bank Center, Vassell admitted that watching the celebration unfold on San Antonio’s home floor was difficult to process.
“I think we had a great season and we proved a lot of people wrong and our goal was to win,” Vassell said. “Obviously, we don’t want to participate in trophies where we just got here. We wanted to win.”
The Spurs finished the regular season 62-20, the second-best record in the Western Conference, before defeating Portland, Minnesota and Oklahoma City to reach the Finals. But after leading by double digits in all five games against New York, San Antonio was unable to close out four of them.
Vassell pointed directly to execution as the difference.
“Credit to them, to their team, their coaching staff, great team,” he said. “I feel like there’s a lot of stuff that we could have controlled to finish off games, to execute the game plan better.”
The sting was especially severe because the Knicks celebrated the franchise’s first championship in 53 years inside San Antonio’s arena.
“It hurts a lot, it stings a lot hearing that right now, seeing them storming the court on our home court, it’s tough, it’s tough,” Vassell said. “We know we’ll do everything we can, scratch, fight to get back into this position and have a different outcome. But right now it’s tough.”
Vassell also pointed to the Finals as a learning experience that will shape him moving forward.
“I think with these games in the Finals, it just shows that every possession matters and every little detail matters,” he said. “You can mess up some stuff in the regular season and kind of get away with it. But obviously in the Finals with everything being amplified, one mistake can cost you a game. And I think we had a couple that cost us multiple.”
The guard, who has spent six seasons with the Spurs, also delivered an emotional message to the fan base that supported the organization through rebuilding years and into a championship run.
“First off to the Spurs fans, just thank you guys so much for supporting us,” Vassell said. “Especially in my journey being here six years, from where we started, from the 20 wins that we were at, to being in the Finals.”
“They’ve been loyal,” he continued. “I just want to say thank you to them, because without them and the noise and them having our backs, we’re not in this situation. We’re not in this position.”
Even in defeat, Vassell found reasons for optimism when discussing rookie contributors Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant, two players who became important pieces during San Antonio’s playoff run.
“Tremendously proud of both of them,” Vassell said.
He praised Bryant’s development from early-season G League assignments to becoming a rotation player in the Finals.
“He’s gonna be a special player,” Vassell said. “I know how hard he works. So he’s gonna be a really, really, really good defensive player, offensive player. He’s gonna be a really good two-way player.”
Vassell was equally enthusiastic about Harper, who led the Spurs with 25 points in Game 5.
“We have a star in the making,” Vassell said. “I know that he’s gonna put so much work into the offseason. It’s not just offensively, but defensively, he’s made a lot of plays. He’s grown so much.”
For a Spurs team that exceeded expectations and reached the Finals after years of rebuilding, Vassell’s message was clear. The loss hurts, the lessons are painful, but the foundation remains strong.
“I’m just really proud of our rookies,” Vassell said. “They stepped up and their number was called in the NBA Finals. It shows the growth and the trust that the coaches have into them.”
