San Antonio Spurs Champion Praises Overlooked Part of Adding Luke Kornet originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Before the NBA offseason, priority number one for the San Antonio Spurs was to add a backup center behind Victor Wembanyama.
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With free agents like Brook Lopez and Clint Capela leading the way, the Spurs ended up nabbing Luke Kornet.
While Kornet didn’t post the same gaudy stats as Lopez or Capela, he played a role on a title-winning Boston Celtics team, which is impossible to ignore. Simply put, he has a winning pedigree.
“Luke had a great experience with the Celtics,” said 1999 champion Avery Johnson. “I coached against him when he was in college at Vanderbilt, but I just think his positive energy, your team first guy, a big that can spread and stretch the floor, you know, someone who knows how to communicate well on defense with this young Spurs team.”
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Kornet has been in the NBA since 2017, so while he is not a Chris Paul-level veteran, he has been around and is very familiar with what it takes to win in the league.
On top of that, Kornet can play a multitude of roles for the Spurs, and San Antonio will enter the season with plenty of frontcourt versatility.
“I love this fit for the Spurs because you add a guy that you can either bring off the bench, you can start him, you can play him behind Wemby, you can play with Wemby,” listed Johnson.
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The Spurs are expected to start Harrison Barnes at power forward, as they did for all 82 games last season, although expect the Spurs to utilize their options, which was not a luxury they had last season.
Check out the Inside the Spurs home page for more news, analysis, and must-read articles.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 17, 2025, where it first appeared.