Houston Rockets guard pushes back against hype surrounding San Antonio Spurs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Houston Rockets guard Fred VanVleet wants people to pump the brakes when it comes to the hype surrounding the rival San Antonio Spurs this season.
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On a recent episode of his Unguarded podcast, VanVleet basically said that he feels like the Spurs are being crowned before actually winning anything.
“Have they [won] a playoff series? Everybody slow the f–k down,” VanVleet said of the Spurs. “It’s a marathon. Not a sprint… They’re having a good year, but what’s the finish line, though? It’s easy to say all this in the moment.”
The Spurs currently sit second in the Western Conference standings with a record of 49-18. Meanwhile, the Rockets are third in the conference at 41-25. The two teams have met four times this season, and the Spurs came out victorious in three of those meetings.
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But to VanVleet’s point, regular season success doesn’t always equate to similar postseason success, and it’s true that the Spurs still have a long way to go in that regard.
At the same time, there’s nothing wrong with people being excited about a young, upcoming team built around a generational talent like Victor Wembanyama.
As for VanVleet, he’s been sidelined for the entirety of the 2025-26 season due to a torn ACL, but he recently left the door open for a potential return to game action this season.
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